Marine Technology Reporter Blogs - electric

This month the first serious experiment with wave energy officially begins in Brazil. The first wave energy plant in the country was installed in the northeast state of Ceará, more specifically in the port of Pecém, located 60km from the state capital Fortaleza and will be officially launched during the Rio+20 taking place in Rio de Janeiro. With the Brazilian coastline being 8,000km long, scientists from COPPE/UFRJ, estimate that with wave energy plants up and down the coast the country could produce up to 87 gigawatts of which 20% could conceivably be converted in electricity, this would add up to 17% of the country´s total installed electrical energy capacity.

The pre-salt is still in its infancy, the only thing that´s guaranteed is that a lot of light oil is down there under a massive viscous salt crust over 2km deep in places. We know its recovery is viable and economically feasible (Oil companies don´t play to lose). How much O&G there actually is down there, may be a whole lot more than people are led to believe. Some people do have a reasonable idea of the magnitude of the deepwater pre-salt, mostly they are or one day were, Petrobras geologists, yet no one really knows the full extension of the Brazilian pre-salt reservoirs. It´s massive anyway, it´ll take 5 more years for the picture to become clearer but the deepwater challenges are here, they are many, and time is not on Brazil´s side.

With major contracts secured in the last two years in Brazil, Cameron is in a great position to expand its presence in the Brazilian subsea market in 2010 and beyond.After being awarded a $100 million contract for 25 subsea Xmas tress for the Campos Basin by Petrobras in 2008, (deliveries completed in late 2009), Cameron entered into a frame agreement with Petrobras in 2009, expected to be worth approximately $500 million, for the supply of subsea trees and related running tools to Petrobras for use in their developments offshore Brazil. Under the agreement, Cameron is providing 138 subsea Christmas trees, with the installation to be supported by 18 sets of running tools that are also part of the scope of supply.