Page 11 - LatAmOil Week 02 2020

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Albuquerque was speaking after Brazilian Pres- ident Jair Bolsonaro summoned representatives of state-run Petrobras for talks on prices. Bol- sonaro took this step in response to the spike in international oil prices that followed the US drone attack that resulted in the death of Iranian
military commander Qassem Soleimani in Iraq on January 3.
The minister has said that the government will continue to analyse proposals for the new mechanism, despite the easing of tensions in the Middle East over the past week. ™
Cosan seeks permits for new offshore gas export pipeline
BRAZILIAN conglomerate Cosan has applied for environmental permits to build a second section of an offshore natural gas export pipe- line. This pipeline, which will be known as Route 4B, is designed to support the development of the South American country’s oil- and gas-rich subsalt fields.
Cosan aims to build a pipeline linking up several subsalt fields with a planned gas-pro- cessing plant at Ilha da Madeira in the state of Rio de Janeiro, according to documents pub- lished by the Brazilian federal environmental regulator IBAMA. The subsalt fields in question are Carcara and Norte de Carcara, both operated by Norway’s Equinor.
If built, the 313-km pipeline will have an installed capacity of 10-15mn cubic metres of gas per day. It would also cross the Mexilhao field, which is operated by state-run Petrobras.
Pipelines known as Route 1 and Route 2 already serve offshore fields in the Campos and Santos basins. Meanwhile, construction work on the Route 3 link is currently in progress. This
pipe is expected to start operating in 2021. Over- all, these three pipelines have installed capacity of around 44 mcm per day.
The Route 4A project is still in the planning phase, and Cosan is still in the process of apply- ing for licences, IBAMA said.
This proposed pipeline would link the Car- cara and Norte de Carcara fields to shore via the Merluza Field, which is also operated by Petrobras.
Plans for these pipelines were developed within the framework of the New Gas Market programme, which the Brazilian government unveiled last year. It did so in a bid to end Petro- bras’ monopoly over the gas sector and to wel- come new players into the domestic gas market.
The programme calls for the launch of a series of new gas infrastructure projects. Even so, Brazil is still unlikely to have sufficient trans- port capacity to cope with projected increases in production – especially after several new fields come on stream in about five years, according to government estimates. ™
The offshore gas pipeline will serve fields in the Santos Basin (Image: SPE)
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