The IBP (Brazilian Oil Institute) is promoting, in Rio de Janeiro, the 14th edition of the Rio Oil & Gas, a sector fair and conference that is promoted every two years and that is the largest in Latin America. The event, to go on up to September 18, takes place at a moment in which Brazil announces important oil discoveries at great depths.
At the same time the country suffers with uncertainty regarding the supply of gas due to political conflicts in Bolivia, the main Brazilian supplier.
The theme this year is "21st Century Oil & Gas Industry: Technological Challenges". According to the organization, 1,100 exhibitors from 20 countries should participate, covering an area of 35,000 square meters (376, 737 square feet) at the Riocentro exhibition center.
There are 400 more exhibitors than in the last edition, which took place in 2006. The IBP hopes to receive 35,000 visitors, against 32,000 in the previous fair.
Apart from the stands, the IBP, the National Organization of the Petroleum Industry (Onip) and the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae) are going to promote, starting on the 16th and 17th, business roundtables between small and medium companies that are suppliers in the oil industry and large groups.
According to the organizers, 250 small and medium companies have already agreed to participate in the roundtables, and they should meet 25 large enterprises, like Petrobras, Transpetro, Shell, Statoil, Ultratec, Queiroz Galvão O&G, Maersk, Innova, DELP, Anadarko, Technip, Transocean, Schlumberger, Petroreconcavo, Odebrecht, Global, El Paso, Andrade Gutierrez and Acergy International. According to the IBP, in 2006 the roundtables generated 100 million Brazilian reais (US$ 55.8 million) in business.
Still in the area of small companies, on the 15th and 16th, seminar "Business opportunities in the foreign market" should be promoted, bringing together representatives of oil companies in Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela.
In the main conference, whose panels should always take place in the afternoon, topics to be covered include five main matters: exploration and production, natural gas, refining and petrochemicals, legal and economic perspectives and social-environmental responsibility.
The themes, however, according to the organizers, should go beyond. In "refining and petrochemicals" panel, for example, topics to be discussed should include expansion of the refining capacity, the attempt to make ethanol into a commodity and the definite insertion of biofuels in the Brazilian energy matrix.
In the "exploration and production" panel, the great focuses should be the presentation of technology for exploration in deep waters and the potential for accumulation in the pre-salt blocks. Just to give an idea of the importance of the matter, discoveries made recently on the Brazilian coast, in the so-called pre-salt area, at a depth of around 6,000 meters, may practically double the reserves currently operated by Petrobras in the country.
In Tupi field, the estimated potential is 5 billion to 8 billion barrels of light oil and natural gas. In the case of Iara, the forecast is for reserves of 3 billion to 4 billion barrels. Both areas are in Santos Basin, on the southeastern coast of Brazil.
Service
Rio Oil & Gas
Visitors may enroll on-line for free
Site: www.ibp.org.br
Anba
