Petrobras Breaks Gas Delivery Records (Brazil)

Petrobras set a new record in the delivery of natural gas to the market in 2011, reaching an annual flow of 37 million cubic meters of gas offered per day.

The company also recorded new monthly and daily records: the flow offered in December of 2011 reached 42.4 million m³/d, and 46.1 million m³ were offered on the 23rd of the same month.

The significant growth on the domestic gas supply observed in recent years is the result of a series of investments in the development of natural gas production projects through the Plano de Antecipação da Produção de Gás – Plangás (Gas Production Anticipation Plan). Under this program, several new fields began producing since 2008 in the Espírito Santo, Campos and Santos Basins, with emphasis on the non-associated gas fields of Canapu and Camarupim.

The significant increase of natural gas supply in 2011 was made possible with the start of production from the Mexilhão, Uruguá and Tambaú fields, in the Santos Basin, as well as the start of operations of the Unidade de Tratamento de Gás de Caraguatatuba (Caraguatatuba Gas Treatment Plant) and the Caraguatatuba-Taubaté Gas Pipeline, in the state of São Paulo. Also in the Santos Basin, there was an emphasis on the initial use of pre-salt gas, with the production flow from the Lula field.

In addition to Plangás, two other important factors were critical to the observed records: the success of the Programa de Otimização do Aproveitamento de Gás Natural – POAG (Optimization of Natural Gas Utilization Program), which allowed to improve the performance of the operating units in the Southern and Southeastern regions of Brazil, and the increase of gas delivery in the Northern region of the country for the production of thermal power.

[mappress]

LNG World News Staff, March 2, 2012