The International Energy Agency (IEA) is forecasting that oil production in 2010 should total 85.7 million barrels per day. The IEA has increased its expected oil consumption for 2010 by 500,000 barrels per day.
The agency has also revised its oil consumption forecast for China in 2009 to 8.17 million barrels per day. In the United States, the demand in the fourth quarter of 2009 is expected to decrease by 330,000 barrels per day when compared with 2008, but should rise by 320,000 barrels per day in 2010.
In the meantime, British newspaper The Independent has informed that China and a group of Arab countries are planning to replace the dollar in business transactions involving oil.
The dollar may be replaced by gold and a basket of currencies that should include the yen, the yuan, the euro and also a single currency that is being planned by the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), an economic bloc comprised of United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain.
According to the newspaper, Brazil and India have also shown interest in replacing the dollar for other options in transactions involving oil, but the country that showed the most enthusiasm was China, due to its large volume of trade with the Middle Eastern countries.
Tupi Oil
The first load of oil extracted from the pre-salt layer in Tupi field, in the Brazilian Santos Basin, has started being processed at Henrique Lage Refinery – Revap, in São José dos Campos. A total of 42,000 cubic meters (264,000 barrels) of oil to be processed in two campaigns.
This oil is classified as having low sulphur levels – the lower the sulphur content, the easier is compliancy with future oil-product specifications, which are becoming stricter and stricter, mainly in the case of naphtha and diesel.
The oil of Tupi Field has low naphthenic acidity and good profitability, as it does not produce bunker fuel, which is a product with low added value.
The Tupi reservoir is more than 3,000 meters under the seabed, below 2,000 meters of salt, in waters at an average depth of 2,140 meters and a distance of 300 km from the coast of the state of São Paulo. The recoverable volumes in Tupi area are estimated at between 5 and 8 billion barrels of high-quality, light oil, as well as natural gas.
