May 2012, Vol. 239 No. 5

Projects

Petrobras Breaks Records For Gas Delivery

Petrobras set a new record in the delivery of natural gas to the market in 2011, reaching an annual flow of 37 Mcm/d. The company also recorded new monthly and daily records: the flow offered in December 2011 reached 42.4 million m³/d, and 46.1 million m³ on Dec. 23.

The significant growth on the domestic gas supply observed in recent years is due to 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 in 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 due to 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.

Two other important factors were critical to the records: the success of the Programa de Otimização do Aproveitamento de Gás Natural – POAG (Optimization of Natural Gas Utilization Program), which enabled improved performance of the operating units in the southern and southeastern regions of Brazil, and the increase of gas delivery in the northern region for the production of thermal power.