Nov 01, 2019
Petrobras Natural Gas Executive Manager Rodrigo Costa Lima said that the installation of a floating gas terminal could be the solution for the production of new pre-salt fields.
The decision, he says, has to be made by 2022 to absorb production growth in the second half of the next decade, and has to involve other gas companies in the country.
The natural gas flow capacity is one of the main obstacles to the expansion of pre-salt production supply, one of the vectors of the market opening plan that can guarantee the “cheap energy shock” promised by the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes.
Currently, two major pipeline routes bring fuel from offshore platforms. A third is under construction. Together, they will be able to carry 54 million cubic meters per day, equivalent to about 80% of the volume currently extracted in the Santos Basin, the country’s largest gas producer.
With the prospect of new discoveries, says Lima, expanding infrastructure will be necessary. Opting for a floating terminal, he said, ensures greater flexibility in operations, argues Petrobras’s executive manager.
The terminal would have the capacity to liquefy the gas for transportation on ships to regasification terminals on the Brazilian coast or abroad. Petrobras even studied the alternative a decade ago, but abandoned the proposal because of the high construction costs.
“There are five offshore gas liquefaction projects in the world today. It is a technology that has advanced a lot in relation to these ten years, ”said Lima, in an interview after a lecture at the OTC, Rio’s oil sector conference.
However, he stressed that there are still challenges to reduce the costs of this technology, considering that oil and gas prices are lower. But it has advantages in a market largely dependent on thermoelectric plants, whose consumption varies greatly during the year. When the plants are stopped, the gas can be exported.
Lima said any solution to expand the gas flow infrastructure first depends on confirming new discoveries and should consider partnerships between the various producers with operations in the country.
“All this infrastructure that we are considering for natural gas flow and processing will surely have to be shared with all producers,” said the executive.
Lack of access to existing pipelines is an impediment for new gas sellers to operate in the market. Today, although it owns about 75% of the national gas production, Petrobras is practically the only seller, as its partners prefer to sell their shares to it.
Opening the transmission grid to third parties is one of the measures of the New Gas Market program, launched in the Bolsonaro government with the motto of the “cheap energy shock” that tries to reduce the monopoly in the sector.
According to the Cade (Administrative Council for Economic Defense), Petrobras has committed to sell remaining stakes in large pipelines and piped gas distributors. Its share in the sale of fuel is expected to fall to about 50% or 60% in the future.
“The challenge is how to develop the infrastructure and put the gas on the market,” said ANP Exploration Superintendent Marina Abelha, noting that most of the pre-salt production in Santos It’s not hitting the market today.
Source: O Globo
Brazil Energy Insight 
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