Used to extract oil in the icy waters of the Arctic, the Russian Rosneft is determined to venturing into the world's tropical forest to sell natural gas to Brazilian consumers.
When the consortium formed by Russian Rosneft and the Brazilian HRT complete the natural gas marketing plans discovered in the Solimões Basin, the Amazon will undoubtedly be a memorable event for the Brazilian energy sector. This is to extract large volumes of natural gas embedded more than 3000 m depth in a sedimentary basin without infrastructure in the heart of the Amazon. And take them to consumers hundreds of miles away.
Today the project comes down to 18 exploration blocks in which were made seven discoveries of natural gas with capacity to produce up to 7 million m3 per day. Perched on the studies are HRT, national oil company that invested in pioneering the Solimões Basin; Russia's Rosneft, the largest oil company in the world of open capital in production volume and operator of the consortium; and Petrobras, which also has gas discovered in neighboring concessions in the Solimões.
In July, the companies signed a new agreement to fund studies for the project, with a term of 12 months.
Rosneft working with two scenarios: to generate electricity or liquefy natural gas and export it in the Amazon region by boats. The volume to be produced, by the way, is not defined. While still operating, HRT even issued that tests showed a capacity to produce up to 7 million m3 per day, but it is early to say that this will be the design of the final production system.
This step will be fulfilled after the completion of the exploration phase that will bring reliable data on the capacity of reservoirs. "We are considering various scales of production and will select which gives a great economic return," Rosneft said in a statement.
River LNG
Whatever the volume, without proper roads, a terrestrial virtual pipeline is not feasible. One option, then, is to build an LNG plant in the operating area and drain the product through ferries, scaled to navigate the nearby rivers, as Tefé and Urucu. Petrobras itself used this alternative in the past, but to transport oil, which need not be liquefied.
Another option is to build a pipeline to a terminal where the gas loading was done in vessels. As the terminal would be located in most rivers navigability - the closest is the Solimões - the idea is to supply larger ships to enable the export of LNG.
By the way, the river transport is already used in the region. The 248 km of Urucu province, Transpetro operates the terminal Coari, Petrobras, with a capacity to store 79,000 m3 of liquid, 60 thousand m3 of oil and the rest of LPG. The unit is in the Solimões River and is connected by pipeline to Orsol Polo Ararat, where it is treated the production of Urucu cluster.
In the world, there are now in operation vessels capable of storing 36,000 m3 of LNG and giants with more than 220 thousand m3. Being in the Amazon, it takes into account that the LNG market in the North Atlantic has important routes such as the Caribbean gas exports to the US and Europe, which reached 4.2 billion m3 in 2013, according to BP Statistical Review of this year.
Not to mention the Brazilian regasification capacity in the states of Ceará, Bahia and Rio de Janeiro respectively, in the Amazon order of proximity. The terminals belong to Petrobras and add 41,000 m3 per day of regasification capacity.
Thermal Solution
Burning natural gas in the Solimões a thermal is seen by Rosneft as the solution with the lowest environmental impact of all alternatives.
"The project will have to align all the various stakeholders in the Brazilian energy sector," he said Rosneft in response to Brazil Energy. The main challenge will be to connect a UTE to the basic network in Manaus, winning over 500 km of jungle. In 2013, the transmission line Tucuruí-Macapá-Manaus interconnected Amazonas, Amapá and western Pará the National Interconnected System (SIN).
Excerpts from: Revista Brasil Energia ("Brazil Energy Magazine")
