Rio O&G 2014 – High Tech & Business for All

The last day of the Rio O&G conference began with an early morning presentation on the possible uses of Nanotechnology for O&G exploration and advanced oil recovery. The sector, with the support of IBP (Brazilian Petroleum Institute) has been working on a Nano Agent capable of increasing the average oil recovery by 20%. According to Rustom Mody, Vice-Presidente of Technology at Baker Hughes, presently 60% of nanotechnology patents are from the U.S. and Canada and the number of patents has greatly increased in the last 10 years, with the market experiencing a major growth since 2009. The market presently involves values of over US$ 9 billion, up from the US$ 4,5 billion of 5 years ago.

Baker Hughes is working on the development of a coating composed of carbon and manufactured through the use of nanotechnology. The innovative product can handle temperatures up to 700 degrees Fahrenheit, which allows its use in geothermal wells. Ecopetrol from Colombia is also using a method of inorganic nanoparticles injection in its Castilla exploratory process. Richard Romero from Ecopetrol explained that they have tested two types of nanoparticles and the one with best results presented 112mg of asphaltenes, resulting in a reduction in petroleum viscosity along with a reduction of 35% in BWS (Basic Sediments and Water), which is the fraction of water produced, compared to the total production. During the testing procedure, Ecopetrol managed to reach a record production of 141 barrels/day and better the oil’s mobility through nanotechnology.  

At the first floor of the conference pavilion, other than the Digital Poster sessions another attraction was the Café Sobre Rodas (Coffee on Wheels) stand, which offered a good variety of excellent coffee for all conference participants at reasonable prices. With so many conferences taking place nearly all day long, it’s little surprise the coffee stand was always busy. The Rio O&G 2014 also saw large numbers of small and medium service and equipment providers from a range of different countries, side by side with local companies, showing themselves to the market. Only a very hot market would induce these minor companies to make the large invests needed to participate in such an event, and the feedback is that the event is worthwhile businesswise and in terms of market exposure.

The last day of the Rio Oil & Gas included many business negotiations between companies at the Expo and also saw the signing of a deal between the Suape port complex and Piratininga Machinery, for the construction rig modules. The modules will be built for FPSO ordered by Petrobras to the Brazilian/Japanese consortium Schahin/Modec. The Suape complex in Northeast Brazil already includes a port and two shipyards, EAS and STX Promar.

Liquid Robotics O&G, was also busy negotiating its novel WaveGlider technology with O&G operators and offshore service providers for a ranges of uses, such as oil field surface and subsea monitoring, metocean measurements and seismic acquisition. They will soon be introducing the expanded SV3 model, which is a bit longer and has an 3 solar panels and a larger payload capacity with optional ADCP (Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler). With such a long coast, it can be expected that the WaveGlider will make an impact in the Brazilian O&G industry, government agencies and local research institutes in coming years.

First time participants at the Expo, Singapore and Poland finished the last day with new partnerships and new experiences in doing business in Brazil. Sonangol also had its largest booth ever and attracted a lot of attention from visitors and businesses. We can’t forget the existing specialized workforce bottleneck, which is still hindering the growth of Brazil’s oil industry development and to that end it was particularly pleasing to see the great many youngsters in their late teens and early 20’s, attending the Expo and some of the conferences with unabashed curiosity and in large groups. It is clear the interest in the O&G industry is increasing within Brazil’s young population and these youngsters will be vital in making the Brazilian local content policy viable without detriment to development schedules and production growth.