Marine Technology Reporter Blogs

With the final voting of the new regulatory model for Brazil´s O&G market, Petrobras confirms it will control local development in order to let local industry catch up to the demand.The Brazilian O&G market development speed is directly dependent on the shipbuilding industry and the specialized equipment and services industry. The hard truth is that none of these local supporting industries are presently capable of supplying the Brazilian O&G demand and it is clear that it will take quite a few years for the local industry to catch up to this demand, even then in many cases, such as shipbuilding, this accelerated growth will only be possible through partnerships with leading international shipbuilders.

As Petrobras announces that it will go through with five more deepwater pre-salt drilling projects this year, totaling 16 pre-salt wells drilled in 2010, a number which will probably increase in 2011 and more pre-salt, deepwater and shallow water plays keep being uncovered, new shipyard and new port projects are getting underway to make up the some of the infrastructure deficit in Brazil.OSX has finally defined that its shipyard will be build next to the Açu Port and Industrial Complex in the northeast coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro. The final decision was decision was based on the competitive advantages of UCN Açu, as attested by the results of comprehensive engineering…

With an eye on the lucrative subsea equipment market, suppliers are investing in technology, local workforce and expanding local facilities. New Brazilian companies specialized in subsea equipment and services also strive to compete with foreign suppliers.Today Petrobras is one of the greatest if not the greatest subsea equipment buyer in the world. With the ongoing discoveries of new deepwater and ultra-deepwater O&G plays in Brazil´s offshore, there is a sustained demand for essential subsea systems such as BOPs, Christmas trees, subsea manifolds, risers, rigid and flexible flowlines, umbilicals, subsea control and monitoring systems, ROV´s, AUS´s and all manner of subsea support systems.

Using its Norwegian branch to launch a drillship operator is one of the options that Petrobras is evaluating in order to administer the 28 drillships the company plans to order.This option would entail creating a holding company as a subsidiary to Petrobras Netherlands B.V. (PNBV) to administer the operation of the 28 drillers to be ordered in the coming years in order to fulfill the drilling needs of the company´s aggressive exploratory campaign in looking for major reservoirs along the Santos Basin pre-salt. The main reason for using a PNBV subsidiary would be to speed up the company´s creation so as not to affect the planned exploratory schedule and also to decrease the company´s direct investment.

The O&G service provider is giving priority to investments in Brazil as part of its worldwide investment strategy. Studying the Deepwater Pre-salt Carbonate Systems in Brazil is one of their main priorities. With the expected growth of Brazil´s current O&G production from 2 million boe to 5 billion boe by 2015, industry service providers are feeling the necessity of making local investments proportionate to this expected growth. Schlumberger, as a leading service provider in the O&G industry has been quietly expanding its operations in Brazil through investments in local infrastructure and in aggressively pursuing highly qualified technicians and engineers.

With the intention of making a more efficient pre-salt FPSO production in Brazil, Petrobras had selected the Rio Grande Shipyard works and dry-dock to be their FPSO production center. There was still a need for a tender process to select which local company would be responsible for the construction process of the first 8 FPSOs to be built from a total of 40 FPSOs originally calculated to be needed for the pre-salt development. These units are part of the new strategy for the construction of production units, designed to simplify projects and standardize equipment. Producing identical hulls in series will accelerate the construction phase, and allow economies of scale and cost optimization.

Present in Brazil for over 90 years, GE is preparing to invest $500 million in Brazil along the next 3 years and maintain its investments in local training and research. GE O&G mayl be one of the main recipients of this local investment as it is a market with great growth potential and where GE already has a very strong presence. Very recently Petrobras and General Electric (GE) signed an agreement for future technology cooperation in R&D projects for monitoring and controlling oil and gas production systems. The development of subsea and compact systems for O&GQ production, and remote monitoring of equipment are among the purposes of this agreement, which highlights the importance GE has had in the development of Brazil´s oil industry.

While the news pertaining to discoveries and new field developments is highly encouraging, the bottleneck created by logistics needs for the pre-salt and lack of specialized workforce in various areas of the O&G industry is hindering a faster growth rate for the oil and shipbuilding industry in Brazil.Petrobras was recently upgraded to being the fourth largest energy company in the world, mostly due to the pre-salt fields and there is little doubt in the market that the company can continue climbing this ladder, possibly to the very top, in another decade. Unfortunately it is not all roses, as serious logistics and workforce issues continue plaguing the nation.

With the growth of the Brazilian O&G market, various small local operators has sprung up, truly coloring the oil market scene in the country and also attracting foreign investors looking at forming local partnerships.Aurizônia Petróleo was established in 2004 in Rio Grande do Norte, ain north Brazil and has two branches, in Rio de Janeiro (RJ) and in Mossoró (RN). The company's objective is the exploration, production, importation and exportation of oil and natural gas. Since its inception, Aurizônia has been highly successful in building a balanced and successful E&P portfolio in mature land basins in Brazil. Among the areas in which Aurizônia operates…

New discoveries and the development of deepwater and ultra-deepwater pre-salt increases the demand for subsea equipment and service providers, attracting various international and local companies to compete for subsea contracts for the Brazilian offshore.The deepwater scene is in full swing in Brazil, with major projects being developed by various operators and national operator Petrobras. All these projects require a multitude of subsea equipment and subsea services, which accounted for a steady growth in subsea equipment and service providers from around the world setting shop in Brazil. Companies that have a history of quality equipment and services usually have an advantage when disputing these contracts, but the final product and services price is also a major issue.

Flexible risers are being extensively used worldwide for deepwater O&G extraction, offering many advantages over rigid risers. However concerns still exist about the overall safety of the system, especially concerning failures leading to hydrocarbon leaks in the ocean environment.The flexible risers being used in deepwater are designed to work for a period of around 20 to 30 years, which is the expected lifetime of an O&G field. A flexible riser failure could happen due to a number of reasons, such as hostile environmental hazards and material fatigue and if the failure is catastrophic, it could lead to high economic and environmental consequences. Flexible risers comprise multiple layers, and the main layers of concerns are the tensile armor layers which exist to withstand tension loads.

The exploratory campaigns by Petrobras and other players continue uncovering new O&G provinces in Brazil.The latest discovery is in the Brazilian northeast region, in the ultra deep Sergipe-Alagoas Basin, where Petrobras identified the presence of hydrocarbons similar to those bearing oil in deep Campos Basin waters. Data analysis confirms the existence of large accumulations in this sector of the Sergipe-Alagoas Basin, implying that there are greater volumes than those found in the shallow water fields such as Guaricema and Dourado. The seismic profile data points to the presence of large volumes of light hydrocarbons. This well, called 1-BRSA-851-SES (1-SES-158)…

Continuing the influx of foreign investments in Brazil´s O&G market, that has attracted investment groups from Europe, North America and Asia. Singapore state investment holding Temasek has recently acquired shares from Brazil´s Odebrecht Oil & Gas (OOG).Negotiations to conclude the deal have been going on for five months and the final agreement has been drawn whereas Temasek bought 14.3 % of OOG for $400 million. OOG´s main interest in the partnership was to attract capital in order to increase its international presence and expand it deepwater drill rig construction program in Brazil. OOG hopes that the new partnership will help it secure the $3.5 billion in investments it that planned for 2011-2013.

The launching of the Rio Grande Naval Complex completes another key project for pre-salt production, as the complex will house the hybrid pre-salt FPSO production line, which already has an order book for 8 units. Petrobras has launched today the Rio Grande Naval Complex, in the city of Rio Grande, southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. The complex is considered so vital to the Brazilian pre-salt production that the outgoing president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was in attendance. The complex consists of a 430,000 m² infrastructure designed for the construction and repair of offshore units for the O&G industry. The complex will be capable of building drillers and production rigs.

Petrobras supply chain to receive an unheard of $1.8 billion (R$3 billion) in financing by major national banks.The $1.8 billion in financing for the Petrobras supply chain, which has never occurred before, will be undertaken by the biggest banks operating in Brazil, through the Progress Program (Programa Progredir). The banks involved in the financing operation are Bradesco, Banco do Brasil, Santander, Caixa Economica, HSBC and Itaú. The targets are the 34 thousand direct suppliers and 216 thousand indirect suppliers for Petrobras. The goal is to preferentially beneficiate the small and medium companies that supply equipment and materials to Petrobras´ direct suppliers.

The umbilicals in the oil and gas industry are the lifelines of deepwater O&G fields, connecting wells to the offshore platform. The use of carbon fiber rods to replace some of the steel sheathing is an interesting development for use in deepwater umbilicals.Since the 1990s, subsea production systems have become increasingly important, specifically for deepwater plays. Some wells or well systems are located as far as 100 km from the production rig and may be up to 3,000 meters deep. As a result, umbilicals composed of steel tube conduit, thermoplastic hose, or a combination of the both, are critical for power, control, communication, and fluid injection to keep deepwater wells working efficiently and producing continuously.

Located in São João da Barra, about 4 hours north of the city of Rio de Janeiro, the Açu Superport is a private mixed-use port terminal that will have 10 docking berths; four for iron ore, two for oil-handling, one for coal and three for steel products, slag, granite and pig iron.LLX, established in March 2007, is the port terminals logistics company of the EBX Group. Since the company started, they have been building two large, mixed use ports, strategically located in southeast Brazil, this area represents approximately 75% of Brazilian GDP. These terminals are expected to be as good as the most modern port terminals anywhere in the world. The Açu Superport will have a depth of 21 meters, and a bridge 2.9 kilometers long and will allow the mooring of Chinamax vessels with 400,000 DWT.

With Brazilian presidential elections imminent, and having just completed its successful shares offer, Petrobras finds itself in a privileged position with the new pre-salt legislation guaranteeing the company as sole operator of all the pre-salt blocks negotiated from the 11th bidding round onwards.Although some parts of the new legislation are still to be voted it is considered as a certainty that the bils concerning Petrobras´ greater influence in the pre-salt will pass. Since the discovery of the Tupi field in 2007, and other pre-salt fields discovered at the Santos Basin, there has been national and global excitement over the possible extent of Brazil´s pre-salt reserves.

AUVs had only been used for a limited number of tasks dictated by the technology available until newer technologies were developed. With the development of more advanced processing capabilities and high yield power supplies, AUVs are now being used in Brazil for some new tasks, although its primary function is still seismic studies and environment analysis.The players in the Brazilian O&G market use AUVs in conjunction with Survey ships to make detailed maps of the seafloor before they start building subsea infrastructure; pipelines and subsea completions can be installed in the most cost effective manner with minimum disruption to the environment.

The new facilities, including bold construction techniques, sustainability and eco-efficiency, represent an advance for Petrobras’ technology development. With the expansion the complex on Fundão Island will occupy more than 300 thousand m² making it one of the largest centers of applied research in the world. There will be various laboratories designed to meet the technological demands of Petrobras’ business areas, in particular, the laboratories of Biotechnology, Environment and Gas & Energy stand out. The expansion will also include modern laboratories dedicated exclusively to meeting the demands of the pre-salt projects. The CENPES expansion is part of a Petrobras strategy to expand the experimental capacity of the Brazilian technological park.