Christopher E. Smith
Pipeline Editor
RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct. 3 -- Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) plans to spend more than $7.5 billion in natural gas transportation-related projects between now and 2012. Projects include more than 4,560 km of pipelines, 10 compressions stations, 31 city gates, and two LNG terminals.
Speaking at the Rio Pipeline 2007 Conference & Exhibition, Celso Luiz Silva Pereira de Souza, Petrobras's manager of natural gas planning, implementation, and logistics, said the Campinas-Rio gas pipeline and the Cacimbas-Vitória section of the Gasene gas pipeline would both enter operation before yearend, improving gas integration between the southeast and northeast sections of Brazil.
The Atalaia-Itaporanga and Itaporanga-Pilar gas lines in Brazil's northeast will also come on line this year, according to Souza.
Souza said Brazil's gas market has grown 15%/year since 2001, driven primarily by industrial and automotive demand. Total 2006 demand stood at 46.3 million cu m/day, expected to increase to 134 million cu m/day by 2012.
Brazil's gas transportation infrastructure must grow to meet this demand, but Carlos Felipe Guimarães Lodi, Petrobras's general manager of operational supply planning, sees problems in achieving this growth, including: lack of skilled project managers, delays in environmental permitting, and difficulty in acquiring storage spheres and compressors, the delivery lead time of which he currently places at 450 days.
Contact Christopher E. Smith at [email protected].
