São Paulo – The pre-salt should make the maritime industry earn US$ 17 billion per year by 2020 and double its share of the Brazilian Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This is what is expected from the sector as the CEO of the Brazilian Association of Naval Construction and Offshore Companies (Abenav), Augusto Mendonça, told news agency Agência Brasil this Wednesday (13th). Offshore oil drilling is extracted from high seas and accounts for the majority of oil explored by Brazil.
“What ensures all this is the size of the pre-salt reserve, which places Brazil among the five or six countries with the largest oil reserves in the world,” said Mendonça during the fair Marintec South America – 11th Navalshore, in Rio de Janeiro. He said the oil-supply chain accounts for 95% of the Brazilian maritime industry, which is divided into three segments: rig manufacturing, ship manufacturing and support boats.
Abenav estimates that by 2020 a total of 81 rigs and probes, 196 support boats and 72 oil tankers will be needed. By 2016, the industry should employ 100,000 workers.
Oil output in the pre-salt layer accounts for nearly 22% of Brazilian production of the commodity. In May, 520,000 barrels per day (bpd) came from the pre-salt layer. Proven pre-salt layer reserves are nearly 3.5 billion bpd and 174 billion cubic meters (m³) of natural gas.
Mendonça told Agência Brasil that the manufacturing of other ships will also bring positive results to Brazil. For instance, there are plans for building 142 barges (transport vessels for heavy goods). Though barges are low value-added ships, the businessman said, the large number of orders shows Brazilian inland navigation is poised to increase.
*Translated by Rodrigo Mendonça
