Eric Watkins
OGJ Oil Diplomacy Editor
LOS ANGELES, Apr. 15 -- The Brazilian navy, still eyeing the need for a nuclear submarine, has completed Operation Aderex-1/09, a military exercise using conventional weapons which aimed at defending the country's offshore oil and gas regions.
"Now, with 85% of oil being taken from the ocean, protection of the continental shelf requires a greater presence by the navy," said Vice-Adm. Fernando Eduardo Studart Wiemer, commander of the Brazilian fleet.
"We have interests that must be defended; among these are the riches of the sea, like fish and oil," he said. "Our country is characterized by not having sworn enemies, especially in our strategic environs, but Brazil is growing, and the Navy must be up to par."
According to the vice-admiral, the navy needs to increase the number of its conventional vessels to defend Brazil's oil and gas interests.
"We are building two 500-tonne patrol boats—and will soon take bids on the construction of four more," he said. "The plan is to build 27 more of those vessels, which are also used to patrol rivers."
Wiemer said Brazil also needs more conventional submarines to protect its extensive continental shelf: "We have five, but we need to have at least 12."
While the Aderex exercise successfully deployed conventional weapons, Wiemer—echoing long-standing desires of the country's defense establishment—nonetheless insisted, "It is essential [for Brazil] to develop the nuclear sub."
Wiemer claimed Brazil is nearly capable of constructing a nuclear submarine, which he called a "priority" for the current administration. "We already know how to build a sub and we are developing our nuclear reactor."
Wiemer echoed Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva who last December asserted that his country would soon have a nuclear submarine.
"The accords for the construction of the first Brazilian nuclear-powered submarine are becoming more concrete every day," Lula said. "In a few years, Brazil will be part of the select group of nations that possess this element."
Brazil began a program to develop a nuclear submarine in 1979, and in 2007 Lula announced $540 million in new funding for that program as well as for uranium enrichment efforts.
In his message, Lula also underscored that one of the priorities of the program to refurbish the navy are the patrol-boats mentioned by Wiemer that will operate near the country's offshore oil and gas platforms.
Shortly after Lula's statement last December, he and French President Nicolas Sarkozy signed an arms agreement that could lead to Latin America's first nuclear submarine. The agreement calls for France to transfer technology to build four Scorpene type submarines and to "develop the nonnuclear part of a nuclear-propelled submarine."
The Scorpene is a conventional diesel-powered attack vessel that Brazilian officials say will help them develop the nuclear-propelled submarine they would use to protect their country's offshore oil and gas reserves.
In 2007, Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim claimed that an oil discovery off Brazil underlined the need for his country to develop a nuclear submarine for protection (OGJ, Dec 17, 2007, p. 36).
Jobim's statement followed a Nov. 8 announcement by the Brazilian government and state-run Petroleo Brasilerio SA that 5-8 billion bbl of oil and associated gas had been found in the block containing the offshore Tupi field in the Santos basin (OGJ Online, Nov. 16, 2007).
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].