Within three years, Brazil’s petroleum production should gain a reinforcement of 80 thousand barrels per day, according to information provided December 28 by the president of the Maritime Petroleum and Engineering Company, Gerson Efromovich.
Efromovich said that the increase in petroleum production will correspond to the results of the construction of a gas pipeline in Colombia to transfer the production of new wells in Alagoas, Bahia, and Rio Grande do Norte, in addition to an oil field in Colombia.
The new gas pipeline will be 2,500 kilometers long and will require investments of US$ 700 million, in a partnership between the Brazilian company and a group from the United States.
New Oil Rigs
Petrobras has announced in October that it will soon place two new oil rigs into operation, increasing the state company’s production by 15%.
The first rig, the P-34, is already on its way to the Campos Basin oil field where it will be installed 182 kilometers off the coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro.
The ocean depth at that point is 800 meters. The rig should reach production capacity of 150,000 barrels per day by mid 2005.
The second rig, the P-48, was built at the Brasfeld shipyard in Angra dos Reis, state of Rio de Janeiro. It also has a production capacity of 150,000 barrels per day and will begin operation in January.
The two new rigs will mean that Brazil should be self-sufficient in petroleum in 2005. Petrobras says it intends to raise production by 5.9% annually between now and the year 2010.
Translation: David Silberstein
Agência Brasil