President Lula kicks production off at the P-50, the self-sufficiency platform
21/04/2006
Today, April 21, at 2:30 PM, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva kicked production off at platform P-50, in the Albacora Leste Field, in the Campos Basin. This platform will allow Brazil to reach self-sufficiency in oil production. The president activated the first oil well connected to the platform via a computer in the control room, and then preceded to the area known as "Avenida Brasil" (Brazil Avenue), where the well piping system reaches the vessel. After opening a valve, he collected a little oil, spread it on his hands and, in a gesture of fraternization, he put his hands on the uniforms of two oil workers. He then repeated the gesture of President Getúlio Vargas, in 1952.
The ceremony on board the P-50 counted on the presence of Chief of Staff, Dilma Rousseff, of the minister of Mines & Energy, Silas Rondeau, of the president of the Senate, Renan Calheiros, of the president of the House of Representatives, Aldo Rebelo, of the president of Petrobras, José Sergio Gabrielli de Azevedo, and of other Company directors.
From the platform, President Lula, accompanied by the other authorities, went to Rio de Janeiro, where he will participate in a ceremony to celebrate the achievement of self-sufficiency at the National Historical Museum.
Sustainable self-sufficiency
When it reaches its full production capacity - 180,000 barrels a day - the P-50 will render the self-sufficiency process sustainable. In addition to this one, three other platforms are scheduled to go into activity in 2006: the P-34, extracting 60,000 barrels a day in the Jubarte field, in Espírito Santo; the SSP-300, producing 20,000 barrels/day in the Piranema field, in Sergipe; and the FPSO Capixaba (100,000 barrels/day) in the Golfinho field, also in Espírito Santo. These platforms will allow Petrobras to reach an average daily production of 1.9 million barrels in 2006, surpassing the country's consumption of 1.8 million barrels a day. In the coming years, the trend is for the curves to expand even more: in 2010, Petrobras is expected to produce 2.3 million barrels, compared to a consumption of 2.0 million barrels a day.
A major advantage for the country is that it is reaching this balanced condition at a moment of world oil scarcity, with but a small difference between global production and demand, something that has caused high market volatility. The extremely high international quotes, with the barrel breaking the $70 mark, sheds even more light on this achievement's opportunities. And, evidently, add internal supply safety to that equation. With self-sufficiency, Petrobras, which never allowed there to be a lack of fuel in the country, even at moments of global supply crises, will be virtually immune to possible international supply collapses.
Oil autonomy comes to crown the work Petrobras has carried out in its nearly 53 years of existence, which from the incipient production of 2,700 barrels a day it inherited when it was created, surged to global leadership in developing technologies to extract oil from deep and ultra-deep waters, where 70% of the Brazilian production comes form. The result of actions that show strategic vision and an enterprising spirit, the capacity to produce all of the oil the Brazilians consume is not a passing success, rather a lasting achievement that will be maintained in the long haul.
Countdown
The extraordinary expansion in Brazilian production is the result of the production projects for the giant fields located in the Campos Basin, such as the Marlim, the Abacora, and the Roncador. Alongside the new platforms, which went into production as of 2003, these projects are allowing Petrobras, in a mere couple of years, to increase its production by 400,000 barrels a day, surging from 1.5 million in 2004, to 1.91 million in 2006. Other factors also contribute to this growth, including mature onshore and offshore field maintenance and revitalization.
The self-sufficiency countdown started about a year ago, when platforms P-43 and P-48 went into operation at the Barracuda-Caratinga complex, in the Campos Basin. The P-50's operation is the last stage before this old ambition will finally come true.
The P-50 is an FPSO, or a Floating, Production, Storage, and Offloading unit characterized by its capability to produce, process, store, and flow oil and gas. It is the floating unit that has the biggest capacity in Brazil, being able to produce up to 180,000 barrels a day, representing 11% of the average volume produced in the Country, in 2005. The P-50 will also be able to compress six million cubic meters of natural gas and to store 1.6 million barrels of oil. It is 337 meters long, its draft (underwater area) measures 21 meters, and it is 55 meters tall, equivalent to an 18-story building.
The unit results from the conversion of the hull of the Felipe Camarão vessel, which belonged to Petrobras' fleet, into an FPSO-type production unit. The Jurong shipyard, in Singapore, carried the conversion out. The P-50's total cost was $634 million. The modules that lie under the hull were built in Brazil, and all of the unit's components were integrated in the country too. These projects generated 4,000 direct and 12,000 indirect jobs in Brazil.
The P-50 is installed in the Albacora Leste field (Campos Basin), and is part of a project that has a 10% participation of the Spanish Repsol company. Albacora Leste is located 120 kilometers form Cabo de São Tomé (RJ), occupying a 141 square kilometer area, where the depth varies from 800 to 2,000 meters.
Investments
Large-scale production projects will be deployed to maintain self-sufficiency, always with a guarantee of upwards of 60% national content, increasing industry development and generating new jobs. The guarantee self-sufficiency will be sustainable for the next ten years is in the current reserves, which allow the maintenance of sufficient production to attend to the forecasted demand. Production development in these reserves will be supported by the investments Petrobras' Business Plan provides for. These investments are slated at $56.4 billion, $49.3 billion of which will be invested in the country in the 2006-2010 period.
The investments made in exploration and production in the past five years approached $18 billion. From 2006 to 2010, Petrobras' Business Plan foresees investments in the order of $28 billion in these activities aiming at producing 2.3 million barrels a day in Brazil. Adding the natural gas production in barrels of oil equivalent, Petrobras' total production in Brazil is expected to be 2,860,000 barrels/day in 2010. If the production of the fields the Company has abroad is factored into the total, the volume will reach 3.4 million barrels of oil equivalent.
Over and beyond the investments, the discovery of new and promising exploration areas indicates excellent production perspectives for the next years. In December 2005, Petrobras declared the commercial viability of five new fields, among which the giant Papa-Terra field in the Campos Basin.
Another Petrobras work front, to give safety to self-sufficiency, is in the new exploratory concessions area. In October 2005, during the 7th Bidding Round promoted by the National Oil, Natural Gas, and Biofuel Agency (ANP), the company purchased 96 - 42 with exclusiveness and 54 in partnerships - of the 109 blocks it contended for. These blocks' total area adds up to nearly 40,000 square kilometers. As a result, Petrobras' exploratory portfolio totals 134 blocks and encompasses an area of 151,500 square kilometers.
Today, April 21, at 2:30 PM, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva kicked production off at platform P-50, in the Albacora Leste Field, in the Campos Basin. This platform will allow Brazil to reach self-sufficiency in oil production. The president activated the first oil well connected to the platform via a computer in the control room, and then preceded to the area known as "Avenida Brasil" (Brazil Avenue), where the well piping system reaches the vessel. After opening a valve, he collected a little oil, spread it on his hands and, in a gesture of fraternization, he put his hands on the uniforms of two oil workers. He then repeated the gesture of President Getúlio Vargas, in 1952.
The ceremony on board the P-50 counted on the presence of Chief of Staff, Dilma Rousseff, of the minister of Mines & Energy, Silas Rondeau, of the president of the Senate, Renan Calheiros, of the president of the House of Representatives, Aldo Rebelo, of the president of Petrobras, José Sergio Gabrielli de Azevedo, and of other Company directors.
From the platform, President Lula, accompanied by the other authorities, went to Rio de Janeiro, where he will participate in a ceremony to celebrate the achievement of self-sufficiency at the National Historical Museum.
Sustainable self-sufficiency
When it reaches its full production capacity - 180,000 barrels a day - the P-50 will render the self-sufficiency process sustainable. In addition to this one, three other platforms are scheduled to go into activity in 2006: the P-34, extracting 60,000 barrels a day in the Jubarte field, in Espírito Santo; the SSP-300, producing 20,000 barrels/day in the Piranema field, in Sergipe; and the FPSO Capixaba (100,000 barrels/day) in the Golfinho field, also in Espírito Santo. These platforms will allow Petrobras to reach an average daily production of 1.9 million barrels in 2006, surpassing the country's consumption of 1.8 million barrels a day. In the coming years, the trend is for the curves to expand even more: in 2010, Petrobras is expected to produce 2.3 million barrels, compared to a consumption of 2.0 million barrels a day.
A major advantage for the country is that it is reaching this balanced condition at a moment of world oil scarcity, with but a small difference between global production and demand, something that has caused high market volatility. The extremely high international quotes, with the barrel breaking the $70 mark, sheds even more light on this achievement's opportunities. And, evidently, add internal supply safety to that equation. With self-sufficiency, Petrobras, which never allowed there to be a lack of fuel in the country, even at moments of global supply crises, will be virtually immune to possible international supply collapses.
Oil autonomy comes to crown the work Petrobras has carried out in its nearly 53 years of existence, which from the incipient production of 2,700 barrels a day it inherited when it was created, surged to global leadership in developing technologies to extract oil from deep and ultra-deep waters, where 70% of the Brazilian production comes form. The result of actions that show strategic vision and an enterprising spirit, the capacity to produce all of the oil the Brazilians consume is not a passing success, rather a lasting achievement that will be maintained in the long haul.
Countdown
The extraordinary expansion in Brazilian production is the result of the production projects for the giant fields located in the Campos Basin, such as the Marlim, the Abacora, and the Roncador. Alongside the new platforms, which went into production as of 2003, these projects are allowing Petrobras, in a mere couple of years, to increase its production by 400,000 barrels a day, surging from 1.5 million in 2004, to 1.91 million in 2006. Other factors also contribute to this growth, including mature onshore and offshore field maintenance and revitalization.
The self-sufficiency countdown started about a year ago, when platforms P-43 and P-48 went into operation at the Barracuda-Caratinga complex, in the Campos Basin. The P-50's operation is the last stage before this old ambition will finally come true.
The P-50 is an FPSO, or a Floating, Production, Storage, and Offloading unit characterized by its capability to produce, process, store, and flow oil and gas. It is the floating unit that has the biggest capacity in Brazil, being able to produce up to 180,000 barrels a day, representing 11% of the average volume produced in the Country, in 2005. The P-50 will also be able to compress six million cubic meters of natural gas and to store 1.6 million barrels of oil. It is 337 meters long, its draft (underwater area) measures 21 meters, and it is 55 meters tall, equivalent to an 18-story building.
The unit results from the conversion of the hull of the Felipe Camarão vessel, which belonged to Petrobras' fleet, into an FPSO-type production unit. The Jurong shipyard, in Singapore, carried the conversion out. The P-50's total cost was $634 million. The modules that lie under the hull were built in Brazil, and all of the unit's components were integrated in the country too. These projects generated 4,000 direct and 12,000 indirect jobs in Brazil.
The P-50 is installed in the Albacora Leste field (Campos Basin), and is part of a project that has a 10% participation of the Spanish Repsol company. Albacora Leste is located 120 kilometers form Cabo de São Tomé (RJ), occupying a 141 square kilometer area, where the depth varies from 800 to 2,000 meters.
Investments
Large-scale production projects will be deployed to maintain self-sufficiency, always with a guarantee of upwards of 60% national content, increasing industry development and generating new jobs. The guarantee self-sufficiency will be sustainable for the next ten years is in the current reserves, which allow the maintenance of sufficient production to attend to the forecasted demand. Production development in these reserves will be supported by the investments Petrobras' Business Plan provides for. These investments are slated at $56.4 billion, $49.3 billion of which will be invested in the country in the 2006-2010 period.
The investments made in exploration and production in the past five years approached $18 billion. From 2006 to 2010, Petrobras' Business Plan foresees investments in the order of $28 billion in these activities aiming at producing 2.3 million barrels a day in Brazil. Adding the natural gas production in barrels of oil equivalent, Petrobras' total production in Brazil is expected to be 2,860,000 barrels/day in 2010. If the production of the fields the Company has abroad is factored into the total, the volume will reach 3.4 million barrels of oil equivalent.
Over and beyond the investments, the discovery of new and promising exploration areas indicates excellent production perspectives for the next years. In December 2005, Petrobras declared the commercial viability of five new fields, among which the giant Papa-Terra field in the Campos Basin.
Another Petrobras work front, to give safety to self-sufficiency, is in the new exploratory concessions area. In October 2005, during the 7th Bidding Round promoted by the National Oil, Natural Gas, and Biofuel Agency (ANP), the company purchased 96 - 42 with exclusiveness and 54 in partnerships - of the 109 blocks it contended for. These blocks' total area adds up to nearly 40,000 square kilometers. As a result, Petrobras' exploratory portfolio totals 134 blocks and encompasses an area of 151,500 square kilometers.
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