Rio de Janeiro – Petrobras estimates show that the state-owned oil company will have to invest around US$ 111.4 billion in subsalt oil by 2020 to produce 1.8 million barrels of oil and natural gas a day. In the evaluation of company president José Sergio Gabrielli, "this volume of investment is viable, with the price of oil on the foreign market being below US$ 45 a barrel."
To Gabrielli, however, only long-term tests, which are in progress both at Baleias, in Espírito Santo, and at Tupi, in Santos Basin, should supply significant and precise information regarding the number of the wells necessary per floating production unit.
"Of course we hope that, with the knowledge to be acquired while making these tests, we may reduce the number of wells and, consequently, even reduce this investment in billions of dollars," he said.
He pointed out that the drilling of one well currently costs around US$ 60 million, and that completion to production raises the cost to US$ 100 million. "So, if I can cut the total number by 200 wells, this means an economy of US$ 20 billion," he explained.
Petrobras projections show that the state-owned company should produce 219,000 barrels of oil a day in the subsalt layer by 2013, a volume that should rise to 528,000 barrels a day in 2016, reaching estimated production of 1.8 million barrels a day by 2020.
Petrobras is purchasing ten new floating, production, storage and offloading units for the subsalt layers in Santos Basin.
According to the state-owned oil company, two units should be leased, but they should have high levels of national technology and be turned to development pilot projects. "The daily production capacity of each unit should be 100,000 barrels of oil and 5 million cubic metres of natural gas, and they should be installed in 2013 and 2014, at locations yet to be defined, in the subsalt layer," said the company.
The other eight production units should belong to Petrobras and have a daily production capacity of 120,000 barrels of oil and 5 million cubic metres of natural gas, being installed between 2015 and 2016.
The platforms, according to Petrobras, should be produced in series, starting with the hulls made in a dry dock in at Rio Grande Shipyard, in Rio Grande do Sul, already leased by the state-owned company for the period of ten years.
*Translated by Mark Ament
