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Equinor ASA and its partners — Repsol Sinopec Brasil and Petrobras — are moving forward with plans to invest about $9 billion in oil and gas discoveries in Brazil’s Campos Basin.
The three BM-C-33 finds in the pre-salt region that holds Brazil’s biggest discoveries are estimated to contain recoverable natural gas, oil and condensate reserves exceeding one billion barrels of oil equivalent, Norwegian oil giant Equinor said Monday. That could help cut Brazil’s need for imported fuel, when production starts in 2028.
“Gas exported from the project could represent 15 per cent of the total Brazilian gas demand at start-up,” Equinor’s Country Manager in Brazil Veronica Coelho said.
Brazil has made increasing natural gas production an economic and political priority, with state-controlled Petroleo Brasileiro SA highlighting the project in its five-year business plan. It will ease Brazil’s reliance on dwindling natural gas imports from Bolivia, and leave the nation less exposed to the liquefied natural gas market during droughts that curb hydropower output.
A floating production, storage and offloading unit with a daily capacity of 16 million cubic metres of gas will be used to process the fuel, Equinor said. Gas will be piped 200 kilometres from the facility to Macae and liquids will be transported using shuttle tankers.
Equinor became the operator of BM-C-33 in 2016, six years after the pre-salt fields were discovered by Repsol Sinopec. The company holds a 35 per cent stake in the project, with Repsol Sinopec and Petrobras holding the remaining 35 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively.
© 2023 Bloomberg L.P.
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