Brazil has been and remains a key stone in the global offshore industry, not least when it comes to deepwater production. Despite the recent turmoil it has faced, including low oil prices, debt woes and the Operation Car Wash investigation, Petrobras is focused on its huge upstream goals, including reaching 2.8 MMboe by 2021 in Brazil alone – which will benefit from European technology.
We spoke with this morning’s plenary speaker Solange da Silva Guedes about her focus during SPE Offshore Europe. Guedes is on Petrobras’ board of directors and is Chief Exploration & Production Officer, with 30 years’ experience at Petrobras and a PhD in petroleum engineering.
What is your main message at SPE Offshore Europe?
Petrobras is going through a process of transformation. In addition to the challenges of low oil prices in recent years, the company has had to change its governance system and deal with an enormous debt load. We are on the road to recovery, but there is still some way to go. In overcoming these challenges, our forces have been our technological expertise combined with a strong tradition of working with industry partners. We strongly believe there will be any way out of crises that does not involve strong cooperation between different industry players.
What role has European technology played in Brazil’s offshore upstream?
Because offshore production began in Europe (in the North Sea), significant expertise were developed in the supply chain of European suppliers and service providers. Petrobras’ deepwater and ultra-deepwater production has been supported by partnerships and joint development initiatives with these companies. We can mention 4D seismic techniques, software to characterize reservoirs, construction techniques, fluids, well completion, subsea pipelines involving large suppliers and installation firms, and floating production systems (FPSOs). In addition, Petrobras has benefited from a strong tradition of high quality European education, sending its employees to European universities to do MAs, PhD and post-docs.
What can European operators learn from Petrobras?
The experience acquired by Petrobras in developing deepwater production is unique in the global offshore industry, given its concentrated geographical location and the development of various projects at the same time, with standardized technical and operational aspects. For example, we have produced standardized design solutions for interfaces between Christmas trees, well bases and subsea lines, meaning that any Xmas tree manufactured by any supplier can connect with any well base and any flexible line. Going forward, Brazilian offshore production will involve different operators and many partnerships, which may benefit a lot from Petrobras’ previous experience, and vice versa. For example, Petrobras has knowledge of weather and oceanographic conditions off Brazil’s coast, reservoir conditions, rocks and drilling, among other things.
What role do you see it playing in the future?
We expect solutions to increasingly be developed jointly, through partnerships and strategic alliances between operators and suppliers, which will be further stimulated by expected future conditions of low oil prices.
In the specific case of Brazilian offshore production, the harnessing of the pre-salt frontier will present many challenges that will require new technologies. Some examples include technologies to enable cost reductions, optimized management of reservoirs and higher recovery factors, including in mature fields. Digital technologies are increasingly being used in the oil industry, and this may expand the range of current partnerships. These technologies have the potential to cut costs, improve operational efficiency and reduce the risks of exploration activities through high-performance computing processes, for example.
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