Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) let a contract to a consortium of Shandong Kerui Petroleum Equipment Co. Ltd. of China and Metodo Potencial Engenharia SA, Sao Paulo, to build a natural gas processing unit (UPGN) to be installed in Itaborai, in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro.
Signed on Mar. 28, the 1.95 billion-real contract calls for construction of a 21 million-cu m/day UPGN that, once completed, will become the country’s largest, Petrobras said.
Scheduled to begin construction this year, the UPGN comes as part of the operator’s Route 3 project to expand transportation and processing of natural gas from the presalt fields in Santos Basin (OGJ Online, July 25, 2016).
Due for startup in second-half 2020, the UPGN will increase Petrobras’s presalt gas offloading and processing capacity to 44 million cu m/day from its current 23 million cu m/day and help reduce the need for natural gas imports, the company said.
Alongside the new gas processing unit, the Route 3 project involves ongoing construction of a 355-km gas pipeline that will deliver natural gas from the Santos basin presalt cluster to the UPGN.
The pipeline consists of an already built 307-km offshore stretch and will include a 48-km onshore stretch.
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].