Texto Inicial

Quarta-feira, 9 de Julho de 2008

Texto Inicial

Decidi criar este blog para tentar organizar alguns postings sobre assuntos que eu tenho compartilhado na internet, seja por meio de noticias coletadas e arquivadas, mas que todos deveriam saber, seja sobre assuntos técnicos que vejo e participo na comunidade do orkut Engenharia de petróleo, do professor da PUC-RJ Luis Rocha (quem eu não conheço pessoalmente).

É de caráter experimental, mas espero que seja bem aceito e conte com a participação de pessoas interessadas em adicionar.
Saudações rubro-negras a todos!!!
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Luciano da Costa Elias
Eng. Quimico
EQ/UFRJ 92/1
CBS 301/91

Notícias relacionadas

sexta-feira, 27 de novembro de 2009

Campos Maduros e RECAGE: aumento do fator de recuperação

Petrobras amplia capacidade de recuperação dos poços

O desenvolvimento de tecnologias de recuperação de poços de petróleo permitiu que a Petrobras aumentasse em 15,2% o volume recuperável de petróleo existente nos seus campos de produção, vale dizer, suas reservas recuperáveis, de 2000 a 2009. O fator de recuperação da empresa, que é a relação entre o petróleo existente no poço e aquilo que é tecnicamente possível extrair, passou de 27,7% para 31,9% no período.

Desde 2007 até 2011 a estatal está investindo US$ 3 bilhões em programas de recuperação que irão aumentar em 850 mil barris as suas reserva recuperáveis, o que equivale à descoberta de um campo gigante capaz de produzir 100 mil barris de óleo por dia por mais de 23 anos. É considerado campo gigante toda reserva superior a 500 milhões de barris de óleo. Guará, um dos gigantes do pré-sal já descobertos, tem reserva estimadas em de 1,1 bilhão a 2 bilhões de barris.

"Qual a grande vantagem da revitalização? É que você não precisa de novas instalações", disse Carlos Eugenio Melro da Resurreição, gerente-geral de Reservas e Reservatórios da Unidade de Exploração e Produção da Petrobras. Com a elevação do preço do petróleo ao longo desta década, apesar da forte oscilação provocada pela crise da virada de 2008 para 2009, os custos de instalações tornaram-se muito elevados, estimulando empresas de petróleo do mundo inteiro a investir em tecnologias de recuperação que permitam produzir mais com os equipamentos já existentes. A forma mais clássica de elevar a produção de um poço é a injeção de fluido - a água é o mais comum - para elevar a pressão no reservatório.

Resurreição explicou que no campo de Albacora (bacia de Campos, RJ), a Petrobras utilizou uma técnica inédita no Brasil e na profundidade do campo (1.200 metros abaixo da superfície do mar) para elevar a capacidade de recuperação e, ao mesmo tempo, eliminar a necessidade de instalar uma nova plataforma na área (Albacora já conta com duas instalações). Foi desenvolvido um sistema remoto de captação de água a mil metros de profundidade para injeção nos poços, eliminando a necessidade de captar o líquido em uma plataforma instalada na superfície para posterior injeção no reservatório. O sistema está previsto para operar a partir de março de 2010.

Segundo o gerente da Petrobras, todo poço de petróleo torna-se passível de ser submetido a ações de recuperação da capacidade produtiva a partir do momento que sua produção alcança 40% do volume recuperável inicialmente estimado. Atualmente, 60% de todas as reservas em produção da Petrobras estão nesta condição, ou seja, estão em campos considerados maduros. Entre os campos em produção da estatal estão alguns considerados referências mundiais pelo elevado fator de recuperação. São os casos de Namorado e Piraúna, ambos na bacia de Campos, que têm fator de recuperação de 70% das reservas descobertas.

Resurreição disse que o fator médio de recuperação mundial é hoje de 30% e que, com o desenvolvimento das técnicas de recuperação, é possível elevar essa média para até 50%. Tudo dependerá, é claro, da sobrevida do petróleo como matéria-prima na atual conjuntura de necessidade imperiosa que tem o mundo de reduzir a emissão de gases geradores do efeito estufa. Graças ao esforço de recuperação de reservas, a Petrobras vem conseguindo manter estável há 20 anos sua produção em terra na Bahia, iniciada há cerca de 50 anos.

No campo de Carmópolis, em Sergipe (também em terra), descoberto em 1963, a estatal está conseguindo outro sucesso importante: Após atingir seu pico de produção em 1989, com 27 mil barris por dia, o campo entrou em declínio e, já com esforços de recuperação, produz hoje 24 mil barris por dia. Com a introdução de novas técnicas, a produção diária deverá subir para 31 mil barris de óleo em 2012, alcançando um novo patamar.

O primeiro campo marítimo do Brasil, Guaricema, em Sergipe, descoberto em 1968, teve as reservas elevadas em 23% na comparação com os níveis de 2004. Já os campos de Enchova, Garoupa, Pampo e Namorado, pioneiros da bacia de Campos, tiveram reservas ampliadas em 30%. O incremento das reservas vem acontecendo desde 2003, quando a Petrobras passou a perseguir metas, criando o programa de Revitalização de Campos de Alto Grau de Explotação (Recage). Na primeira fase, concluída em 2008, o fator de recuperação cresceu quatro pontos percentuais. Na segunda fase, que vai até 2012, a meta é elevar em sete pontos.(Fonte: Jornal do Commercio/RJ/Chico Santos, do Rio)
 
Nota para leigos: Quando se descobre um campo, avalia-se o tamanho e estima-se o volume de óleo existente neste campo. No entanto, avalia-se também o quanto deste volume pode ser recuperado. Este volume recuperável é o que entra nas reservas provadas da companhia e que aumenta o valor da mesma no mercado pois é volume "garantido" para dispor para venda de petróleo. Conforme as tecnologias avançam, o fator de recuperação de alguns campos pode ser mudado pois o que não era possível recuperar passa a ser possível. O contrário também é verdadeiro (porém raro), ou seja, erros na produção podem acabar com a "vida útil" do campo antes. Por isso, as empresas reavaliam periodicamente as suas reservas tanto de campos em produção como de campos ainda por produzir.

quarta-feira, 25 de novembro de 2009

Anadarko encontra óleo de alta qualidade na Bacia de Campos

A norte-americana Anadarko Petroleum Corp., segunda maior produtora de gás natural nos Estados Unidos, anunciou a descoberta de óleo de alta qualidade no poço exploratório batizado de Wahoo número 2, (antes chamado Wahoo Norte), na Bacia de Campos. O poço está localizado no bloco BM-C-30 e aumenta a probabilidade de que a área se torne o próximo grande projeto da companhia.
  
"Nós acreditamos que os resultados até agora aumentam as reservas potenciais na área de prospecção e, pelo que vimos até agora, Wahoo tem as características necessárias para potencialmente se tornar nosso próximo mega projeto", afirmou Bob Daniels, vice-presidente para exploração mundial da Anadarko.
  
O poço Wahoo Número 2 localiza-se no bloco BM-C-30, cerca de 8 quilômetros ao norte da descoberta Wahoo anteriormente anunciada. A Anadarko possui 30% de participação e é o operador do bloco. A Devon Energy tem 25% de participação, a IBV Brasil Petróleo têm 25% e a SK Energy controla os 20% restantes.
  
A Anadarko afirmou que ela e seus parceiros vão continuar coletando dados do poço Wahoo número 2. Também na Bacia de Campos, a Anadarko e seus parceiros estão atualmente perfurando o projeto Itaipu, no bloco BM-C-32. Na semana passada, a companhia afirmou que estaria interessada em comprar a fatia operacional da Devon no projeto BM-C-32, no qual já possui 32% de participação. As informações são da Dow Jones.

terça-feira, 24 de novembro de 2009

Cessão Onerosa não será em áreas contíguas


Perfuração para cessão onerosa à Petrobras é em dezembro

O diretor-geral da Agência Nacional do Petróleo (ANP), Haroldo Lima, informou na quinta-feira que o início das perfurações na Bacia de Santos visando encontrar os 5 bilhões de barris para a cessão onerosa à Petrobras deve acontecer na primeira semana de dezembro.

"Começamos com um número grande de áreas sendo avaliadas, umas 20, depois reduzimos e chegamos a duas áreas. Agora não dá mais para mudar", comentou Haroldo Lima. Os custos destas perfurações devem chegar a algo entre R$ 400 milhões e R$ 500 milhões.

Haroldo Lima também surpreendeu ao informar que as áreas virão de novos reservatórios. Até então, apenas havia sido comentado que estas perfurações seriam feitas em áreas contíguas às descobertas já realizadas para poder facilitar o processo de unitização, ou seja, a unificação de áreas em que o reservatório "vaza" para além dos limites da concessão.

O diretor-geral afirmou que o objetivo da reguladora é localizar novos reservatórios gigantes, com algo entre 2 bilhões a 3 bilhões de barris potenciais em cada um deles.

"Nossa ideia principal não é facilitar a unitização repassando vários blocos com quantidade menor de petróleo. Nossa ideia é encontrar muito petróleo em poucas áreas. Nós precisamos encontrar 5 bilhões de barris e isso tem que ser em um ou no máximo dois blocos", disse Lima, destacando ainda que há ainda a possibilidade de uma terceira área ser perfurada caso uma das duas não apresente o sucesso esperado.

Segundo Haroldo Lima, as análises indicaram várias áreas em potencial e não estava descartada inicialmente a perfuração na encosta dos blocos já com descobertas, como Tupi e Iara.

"Se estes grandes volumes fossem localizados colados às áreas já descobertas, seria aí que perfuraríamos. Mas tudo indica que não vamos buscar. As perfurações vão ocorrer em algum ponto do platô de São Paulo", explicou.(Fonte: Jornal do Commercio/RJ/KELLY LIMA/DA AGÊNCIA ESTADO)

segunda-feira, 23 de novembro de 2009

The Economist

Brazil takes off

Nov 12th 2009
From The Economist print edition

Now the risk for Latin America's big success story is hubris

 

Rex Features

WHEN, back in 2001, economists at Goldman Sachs bracketed Brazil with Russia, India and China as the economies that would come to dominate the world, there was much sniping about the B in the BRIC acronym. Brazil? A country with a growth rate as skimpy as its swimsuits, prey to any financial crisis that was around, a place of chronic political instability, whose infinite capacity to squander its obvious potential was as legendary as its talent for football and carnivals, did not seem to belong with those emerging titans.

Now that scepticism looks misplaced. China may be leading the world economy out of recession but Brazil is also on a roll. It did not avoid the downturn, but was among the last in and the first out. Its economy is growing again at an annualised rate of 5%. It should pick up more speed over the next few years as big new deep-sea oilfields come on stream, and as Asian countries still hunger for food and minerals from Brazil's vast and bountiful land. Forecasts vary, but sometime in the decade after 2014—rather sooner than Goldman Sachs envisaged—Brazil is likely to become the world's fifth-largest economy, overtaking Britain and France. By 2025 São Paulo will be its fifth-wealthiest city, according to PwC, a consultancy.

And, in some ways, Brazil outclasses the other BRICs. Unlike China, it is a democracy. Unlike India, it has no insurgents, no ethnic and religious conflicts nor hostile neighbours. Unlike Russia, it exports more than oil and arms, and treats foreign investors with respect. Under the presidency of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a former trade-union leader born in poverty, its government has moved to reduce the searing inequalities that have long disfigured it. Indeed, when it comes to smart social policy and boosting consumption at home, the developing world has much more to learn from Brazil than from China. In short, Brazil suddenly seems to have made an entrance onto the world stage. Its arrival was symbolically marked last month by the award of the 2016 Olympics to Rio de Janeiro; two years earlier, Brazil will host football's World Cup.

At last, economic sense

In fact, Brazil's emergence has been steady, not sudden. The first steps were taken in the 1990s when, having exhausted all other options, it settled on a sensible set of economic policies. Inflation was tamed, and spendthrift local and federal governments were required by law to rein in their debts. The Central Bank was granted autonomy, charged with keeping inflation low and ensuring that banks eschew the adventurism that has damaged Britain and America. The economy was thrown open to foreign trade and investment, and many state industries were privatised.

All this helped spawn a troupe of new and ambitious Brazilian multinationals (see our special report). Some are formerly state-owned companies that are flourishing as a result of being allowed to operate at arm's length from the government. That goes for the national oil company, Petrobras, for Vale, a mining giant, and Embraer, an aircraft-maker. Others are private firms, like Gerdau, a steelmaker, or JBS, soon to be the world's biggest meat producer. Below them stands a new cohort of nimble entrepreneurs, battle-hardened by that bad old past. Foreign investment is pouring in, attracted by a market boosted by falling poverty and a swelling lower-middle class. The country has established some strong political institutions. A free and vigorous press uncovers corruption—though there is plenty of it, and it mostly goes unpunished.

Just as it would be a mistake to underestimate the new Brazil, so it would be to gloss over its weaknesses. Some of these are depressingly familiar. Government spending is growing faster than the economy as a whole, but both private and public sectors still invest too little, planting a question-mark over those rosy growth forecasts. Too much public money is going on the wrong things. The federal government's payroll has increased by 13% since September 2008. Social-security and pension spending rose by 7% over the same period although the population is relatively young. Despite recent improvements, education and infrastructure still lag behind China's or South Korea's (as a big power cut this week reminded Brazilians). In some parts of Brazil, violent crime is still rampant.

National champions and national handicaps

There are new problems on the horizon, just beyond those oil platforms offshore. The real has gained almost 50% against the dollar since early December. That boosts Brazilians' living standards by making imports cheaper. But it makes life hard for exporters. The government last month imposed a tax on short-term capital inflows. But that is unlikely to stop the currency's appreciation, especially once the oil starts pumping.

Lula's instinctive response to this dilemma is industrial policy. The government will require oil-industry supplies—from pipes to ships—to be produced locally. It is bossing Vale into building a big new steelworks. It is true that public policy helped to create Brazil's industrial base. But privatisation and openness whipped this into shape. Meanwhile, the government is doing nothing to dismantle many of the obstacles to doing business—notably the baroque rules on everything from paying taxes to employing people. Dilma Rousseff, Lula's candidate in next October's presidential election, insists that no reform of the archaic labour law is needed (see article).

And perhaps that is the biggest danger facing Brazil: hubris. Lula is right to say that his country deserves respect, just as he deserves much of the adulation he enjoys. But he has also been a lucky president, reaping the rewards of the commodity boom and operating from the solid platform for growth erected by his predecessor, Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Maintaining Brazil's improved performance in a world suffering harder times means that Lula's successor will have to tackle some of the problems that he has felt able to ignore. So the outcome of the election may determine the speed with which Brazil advances in the post-Lula era. Nevertheless, the country's course seems to be set. Its take-off is all the more admirable because it has been achieved through reform and democratic consensus-building. If only China could say the same.

A special report on business and finance in Brazil

Getting it together at last

Nov 12th 2009
From The Economist print edition

Brazil used to be all promise. Now it is beginning to deliver, says John Prideaux (interviewed here)

 

AFP

BRAZIL has long been known as a place of vast potential. It has the world's largest freshwater supplies, the largest tropical forests, land so fertile that in some places farmers manage three harvests a year, and huge mineral and hydrocarbon wealth. Foreign investors have staked fortunes on the idea that Brazil is indeed the country of the future. And foreign investors have lost fortunes; most spectacularly, Henry Ford, who made a huge investment in a rubber plantation in the Amazon which he intended to tap for car tyres. Fordlândia, a long-forgotten municipality in the state of Pará, with its faded clapboard houses now slowly being swallowed up by jungle, is perhaps Brazil's most poignant monument to that repeated triumph of experience over hope.

Foreigners have short memories, but Brazilians have learned to temper their optimism with caution—even now, when the country is enjoying probably its best moment since a group of Portuguese sailors (looking for India) washed up on its shores in 1500. Brazil has been democratic before, it has had economic growth before and it has had low inflation before. But it has never before sustained all three at the same time. If current trends hold (which is a big if), Brazil, with a population of 192m and growing fast, could be one of the world's five biggest economies by the middle of this century, along with China, America, India and Japan.

Despite the financial crisis that has shaken the world, a lot of good things seem to be happening in Brazil right now. It is already self-sufficient in oil, and large new offshore discoveries in 2007 are likely to make it a big oil exporter by the end of the next decade. All three main rating agencies classify Brazil's government paper as investment grade. The government has announced that it will lend money to the IMF, an institution that only a decade ago attached stringent conditions to the money it was lending to Brazil. As the whole world seemed to be heading into a long winter last year, foreign direct investment (FDI) in Brazil was 30% up on the year before—even as FDI inflows into the rest of the world fell by 14%.

Much of the country's current success was due to the good sense of its recent governments, in particular those of Fernando Henrique Cardoso from 1995 to 2003, which created a stable, predictable macroeconomic environment in which businesses could flourish (though even now the government continues to get in the way of companies trying to earn profits and create jobs). How did this remarkable transformation come about? And how can Brazilian and foreign firms, from lipstick-makers to investment banks, take advantage of the country's new stability?

To see why Brazil currently seems so exciting to both Brazilians and foreigners, it helps to understand just how deep it had sunk by the early 1990s. Past disappointments also explain three things about Brazil which outsiders sometimes find hard to fathom: its suspicion of free markets; its faith in the wisdom of government intervention in business and finance; and persistently high interest rates.

When Brazil became independent from Portugal in 1822, British merchants, delighted to discover a big new market, flooded Brazil with manufactures, including, according to one possibly apocryphal story, ice-skates—an early example of emerging-market fever. Even so, real income per person remained stagnant throughout the 19th century, perhaps because an inadequate education system and an economy dependent on slaves producing commodities for export combined to get in the way of development. Ever since the Brazilians have tended to view free trade with suspicion, despite their country's recent success as an exporter.

In the mid-20th century Brazil seemed to have found a formula for stimulating growth and enjoyed what appeared to be an economic miracle. At one point its economy grew faster than that of any other big country bar Japan and South Korea. That growth relied on a state-led development model, financed with foreign debt within a semi-closed economy. But growth also brought inflation, which crippled Brazil until the mid-1990s and still accounts for some odd characteristics, such as the country's painfully high interest rates and its disinclination to save. All the same, the "miracle" wrought by the military government persuaded Brazilians that the state knew best, at least in the economic sphere, and even the subsequent mess did not quite persuade them otherwise.

Unhappy memories

When this development model broke down amid the oil shocks of the 1970s, Brazil was left without the growth but with horrendous inflation and lots of foreign debt. There followed two volatile decades, when Brazil started being likened to Nigeria instead of South Korea. Productivity growth went into reverse. Many of the country's current problems, including crime and poor education and health care, either date from that period or were exacerbated by it. Between 1990 and 1995 inflation averaged 764% a year.

AFP Cardoso (left) did Lula a big favour

Then a real miracle happened. In 1994 a team of economists under Mr Cardoso, then the finance minister, introduced a new currency, the real, which succeeded where previous attempts had failed. Within a year the Real Plan had managed to curb price rises. In 1999 the exchange-rate peg was abandoned and the currency allowed to float, and the central bank was told to target inflation. The ten-year anniversary of this event has just passed, and although there is continuing debate about how to make the real less volatile, none of the big political parties advocates going back to a managed rate.

More than that, the reforms brought discipline to the government's finances. Both federal and state governments now have to live within their means. A requirement to run a primary surplus (before interest payments on the public debt) was introduced in 1999, and the federal government has hit the target for it every year since, though there is a good chance that it will miss it this year. This has allowed Brazil to get rid of most of the dollar-denominated foreign debt that caused such instability every time the economy wobbled. Now international creditors trust the government to honour its commitments. Moody's, a rating agency, elevated Brazil's government paper in September to investment grade just as the governments of many richer countries fretted about being able to meet their obligations.

Yet growth still proved elusive. It took a buoyant world economy and a surge in commodity prices to procure it. Although Brazil's economy is still relatively closed (trade accounted for a modest 24% of GDP in 2008, less than 60 years earlier), its growth is closely correlated with commodity prices, the Chinese economy, the Baltic Dry index and other measures of global trade. But at last in 2006 GDP outpaced inflation for the first time in over 50 years.

Lucky Lula's legacy

Brazil's current president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has been able to take much of the credit for the country's recent growth that perhaps properly belongs to his predecessor. Yet Lula's achievement has been to keep the reforms he was bequeathed and add a few of his own—not a meagre accomplishment given that for the past seven years his own party has been trying to drag him to the left.

Lula is often mocked for beginning his sentences with the phrase, "never before in the history of this country". What his political opponents find even more infuriating is that he is often right. Brazil was able to cut interest rates and inject money into the economy as the world economy faltered at the end of last year, the first time it has been able to do this in a crisis. Whereas others predicted that world events would tip Brazil into recession, Lula reckoned that the crisis would amount to nothing more than a small tide breaking on his country's beaches. The economy shrank for only two quarters and is now growing again. The contrast with Brazil's performance in previous crises could not be more stark (see article).

Plenty of problems remain. The central bank's headline interest rate is 8.75%, one of the highest real rates anywhere in the world. If the government wants a long-term loan in its own currency it still has to link its bonds to inflation, making debt expensive to service.

Productivity growth is sluggish. That may not seem the end of the world, but it reflects realities such as the two-hour bus journey into work endured by people living on the periphery of São Paulo, the country's largest city, during which they often risk assault before arriving too tired to be very useful. The government invests too little and has longstanding gaps in policing and education to fill. The legal system is dysfunctional. And so on.

Yet other countries face similar problems, and Brazil has made real progress. In a country where businesses became used to headline interest rates of 30% or more, a rate below 9% comes as a relief. "It's like the difference between running a marathon with 50 kilos on your shoulders and 20 kilos," says Luis Stuhlberger of Credit Suisse Hedging-Griffo, one of Brazil's most successful fund managers. Mr Stuhlberger thinks that Brazil's recent past was so awful, and its expansion of education and credit is so young, that the country can reasonably be expected to continue on its current trajectory, even without further big reforms. Even so, he argues, "we are not going to have a Harvard or a Google here." The blame for that, he says, lies largely with government policies.

Brazil's economic story could certainly be made more exciting with some reforms to its business environment. The country's potential growth without a risk of overheating can only be guessed at, but it is probably below the 6.8% it reached in the third quarter of 2008. Most economists put it at 4-5%. This suggests that interest rates will not be coming down to levels considered normal in other countries soon.

Still, stability has its own rewards. Edmar Bacha, one of the economists who worked on the introduction of the real in 1994, is pleased that the debates about Brazil's economy have become so narrow. Back in 1993, when he joined the ministry of finance, inflation at one point hit 2,489%. Nowadays, he notes with a wry smile, "the big debates are about whether interest rates could come down from 8.75% to 8.25%; or whether the central bank should have started cutting a month earlier than it did." That change has been good for Brazil, and particularly good for its banks and its financial system.

Presidential politics in Brazil

Her master's voice

Nov 12th 2009 | SÃO PAULO
From The Economist print edition

Dilma Rousseff, Lula's preferred successor, is a more interesting politician than she appears to be. But would she be different from her boss?

 

Reuters

WHEN Brazil's president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, identified Dilma Rousseff, his chief-of-staff, as his preferred successor in the top job, the collective response of people who follow such things was a puzzled frown, as if perhaps there had been a misprint in the newspaper. Ms Rousseff had proved herself an able administrator. But if she had the natural political gifts required for electoral success in the world's fourth-largest democracy they had been well hidden. Her campaigns for local office in Rio Grande do Sul, her political home, were unsuccessful. Her sentences go on for a long time and contain lots of subclauses. But she has one thing that nobody else in Brazilian politics has got: Lula's unqualified backing. Given that the president's approval ratings are still north of 80% as he enters the final year of his second term, this is worth a lot.

Despite their difference in manner, Ms Rousseff has become Lula's political shadow. Her duties include the government's "Growth Acceleration Programme", which aims to mobilise investment of $301 billion in infrastructure between 2007 and 2010. So the two constantly traverse the country opening roads and the like, or even just announcing that they might be built.

Their views are impossible to tell apart. Her answers to questions about Brazil's future tend to begin with the words, "President Lula's government has…" before going on to list recent achievements. Her concern with keeping inflation low, her faith in the government's wisdom to plan and "induce" economic activity, and her refusal to criticise undemocratic actions by other governments in the region, especially that of Venezuela's Hugo Chávez, are identical to the president's. So it is slightly surprising that she only switched her political allegiance to the Workers' Party, a vehicle built around Lula, nearly two decades after it was founded.

Though it has been smothered recently, Ms Rousseff in fact has an interesting political identity of her own. Born to a Bulgarian immigrant father and a teacher in Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais, her childhood was much more comfortable than Lula's. But she became a middle-class radical, involving herself in the far-left resistance to the military governments that ruled Brazil for two decades from 1964. Quite what she did is the subject of some mythmaking. But it seems that she helped to plan a celebrated robbery in which a gang stole $2.4m from the safe of Adhemar de Barros, a former governor of São Paulo (who rejoiced in the tag "he steals but gets things done").

Her punishment was real enough. She suffered torture by electric shock for 22 days and was jailed for almost three years. Ms Rousseff does not talk about this much, and her language when discussing the military government is surprisingly detached. She talks about how "possibilities shrink" and "life becomes impoverished for everyone" under a dictatorship.

With democracy restored, Ms Rousseff (who has been married and separated twice) settled down to a career in public administration. Her success as state energy secretary in Rio Grande do Sul at a time of electricity shortages brought her to Lula's attention. As his first energy minister, she gained a reputation with businessmen as a tough, but fair, negotiator. She was promoted to chief-of-staff when the incumbent was felled by a vote-buying scandal, in 2005. Lula appears to credit Ms Rousseff with getting his government back on its feet again after it nearly fell apart.

Like Lula, Ms Rousseff's political views have mellowed. "You can't be fundamentalist about anything," she says while discussing the government's wish that equipment used to extract oil from new offshore fields should be made in Brazil. "We respect contracts—we are part of the West," she adds, explaining that she would honour the terms on which foreign oil firms currently operate in Brazil. She describes herself now as a "Brazilian democratic socialist". She wants to reform the state to make it more effective but not smaller.

Asked whether a technocrat like her can be elected president, she replies "I think so." Her task before the election next October is contradictory. She needs to stick close enough to Lula to benefit from the heat he radiates, while distancing herself enough to convince voters that she is her own woman. The opinion polls have Ms Rousseff lagging the opposition's José Serra by between 15 and 20 points. Neither of them has officially declared their candidacy yet, and the campaign will start in earnest only in April. The question that Ms Rousseff will have to ponder is whether seamless continuity is indeed the path to the presidency.

segunda-feira, 16 de novembro de 2009

DEVON sairá do Brasil, vendendo os ativos exploratórios e de produção (campo de POLVO)

Devon Energy Announces Plan to Strategically Reposition Company as High-Growth, Onshore North American Exploration and Production Company

OKLAHOMA CITY, Nov. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Devon Energy Corporation (NYSE: DVN) today unveiled its plan to strategically reposition Devon as a high-growth North American onshore company. Devon intends to divest all of its Gulf of Mexico and international assets. The company plans to direct proceeds to its high-return U.S. and Canadian onshore portfolio and to retire debt.

"Devon's success has led to an overabundance of opportunities, and this repositioning will allow us to optimize value for our shareholders," said J. Larry Nichols, chairman and chief executive officer. "We do not believe that the value of our high-quality Gulf and international assets is being adequately reflected in our stock price. By monetizing these assets, we will realize their full value, allowing us to unleash the growth potential that resides within our world-class onshore assets."

"Following the divestitures, Devon will be uniquely positioned to deliver high organic growth on a sustainable basis, funded entirely with internally generated funds. Furthermore, we expect Devon to emerge with an even stronger balance sheet and one of the lowest overall cost structures in our peer group," added Nichols.

Expected Timing, Proceeds and Pro-Forma Impacts

Devon expects to have data rooms open for all of the divestiture assets and commence the divestiture process in the first quarter of 2010. The company expects to complete the divestitures throughout 2010 and to have finished the process by year-end.

Devon believes the divestitures will generate after-tax proceeds of $4.5 billion to $7.5 billion. The company expects the repositioning to be highly accretive to earnings, cash flow, production and reserves beginning in 2011.

Relative Size and Product Mix of Gulf of Mexico and International Assets

Based on estimated year-end 2009 proved reserves, Devon's Gulf of Mexico and international properties comprise approximately seven percent of Devon's company-wide proved reserves of 2.8 billion barrels of oil equivalent (Boe). If the sale of the Gulf of Mexico and international assets had occurred in 2009, Devon's estimated year-end 2009 proved reserves would have been 2.6 billion Boe or some 200 million Boe greater than year-end 2008 levels.

Oil and natural gas liquids account for approximately 43 percent of company-wide estimated proved reserves at year-end 2009. Pro forma for the divestiture of the Gulf of Mexico and international assets, oil and natural gas liquids account for 41 percent of the total. Accordingly, the company's overall balance between liquids and natural gas will change only slightly as a result of this repositioning.

Conference Call Webcast Scheduled for Today

Devon will host a conference call webcast at 9 a.m. Central Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time) today to discuss 1) the planned repositioning of the company, 2) an update of the company's resource potential and 3) the company's 2010 capital budget and outlook. The webcast may be accessed from Devon's internet home page at www.devonenergy.com.

Deutsche Bank provided financial services to Devon in connection with this matter.

Devon Energy Corporation is an Oklahoma City-based independent energy company engaged in oil and gas exploration and production. Devon is a leading U.S.-based independent oil and gas producer and is included in the S&P 500 Index. For additional information, visit www.devonenergy.com.

This press release includes "forward-looking statements" as defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Such statements are those concerning strategic plans, expectations and objectives for future operations. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this press release that address activities, events or developments that the company expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of the company. Statements regarding future drilling and production are subject to all of the risks and uncertainties normally incident to the exploration for and development and production of oil and gas. These risks include, but are not limited to the volatility of oil, natural gas and NGL prices; uncertainties inherent in estimating oil, natural gas and NGL reserves; drilling risks; environmental risks; and political or regulatory changes. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, even if subsequently made available by Devon on its website or otherwise. Devon does not undertake any obligation to update the forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission permits oil and gas companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose only proved reserves that a company has demonstrated by actual production or conclusive formation tests to be economically and legally producible under existing economic and operating conditions. This release may contain certain terms, such as resource potential, reserve potential, probable reserves, possible reserves and exploration target size. The SEC guidelines strictly prohibit us from including these terms in filings with the SEC. U.S. investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form 10-K, File No. 001-32318, available from us at Devon Energy Corporation, Attn. Investor Relations, 20 North Broadway, Oklahoma City, OK 73102. You can also obtain this form from the SEC by calling 1-800-SEC-0330.

SOURCE Devon Energy Corporation

Investor
Shea Snyder, +1-405-552-4782

Media
Chip Minty, +1-405-228-8647
both of Devon Energy Corporation

quarta-feira, 11 de novembro de 2009

Queiroz Galvão prefere empréstimo a bônus

 

A brasileira Queiroz Galvão Óleo e Gás SA, que fornece sondas de prospecção à Petrobras, está prestes a receber um empréstimo de US$ 350 milhões para ajudar a custear o desenvolvimento da chamada região do pré-sal, disse seu diretor financeiro, Guilherme Lima."A empresa vem estudando alternativas há algum tempo, mas estamos negociando um empréstimo comum de US$ 350 milhões com banco porque é mais rápido e mais barato para nós" do que emitir bônus, disse.

A fornecedora brasileira de serviços petrolíferos tenta obter capital para financiar as compras de plataformas e outros equipamentos para explorar a região do pré-sal, que abriga a maior descoberta de petróleo das Américas desde 1976.Em agosto, a Queiroz Galvão Óleo e Gás aceitou um empréstimo em que pagaria a taxa Libor do interbancário (sigla de London interbank offered rate, em inglês) mais 325 pontos- base.

Lima prevê que os spreads dos empréstimos sobre a Libor vão cair até o primeiro trimestre do ano que vem, quando o negócio será fechado."O mercado de bônus está melhorando", disse Lima. "Vai depender se o mercado de bônus continuar melhorando como nos últimos meses. Por enquanto não pensamos, mas podemos vir a emitir num futuro próximo."O desenvolvimento da região do pré-sal está atraindo investimentos de empresas como a Petrobrás, controlada pelo governo, cujo plano de investimentos, de US$ 174 bilhões, engloba a área.

O investimento total da Queiroz Galvão Óleo e Gás está estimado em US$ 4,5 bilhões até 2015, disse Lima. A receita da empresa vai mais do que dobrar, para US$ 1 bilhão, em 2011 em relação aos cerca de US$ 400 milhões deste ano, disse ele.A empresa é uma subsidiária totalmente controlada pelo Grupo Queiroz Galvão, que opera em construção civil, siderurgia, finanças e processamento de alimentos na América Latina e na África.

As reservas em águas profundas do pré-sal devem encerrar de 80 bilhões a 90 bilhões de barris de petróleo, segundo o ministro da Fazenda, Guido Mantega.(Fonte: Jornal do Commercio/RJ/Camila Fontana/DA AGÊNCIA BLOOMBERG)

OGX: planos e mais blocos adquiridos

Comentário do blogueiro: A OGX vem comprando os direitos exploratórios de diversos operadores.

Eike ganha mais petróleo

A OGX, empresa de petróleo e gás fundada pelo empresário Eike Batista, decidiu alterar o seu cronograma de perfurações para o próximo ano, após a revisão de estimativas de recursos potenciais da companhia. De acordo com o diretor geral da empresa, Paulo Mendonça, 27 poços devem ser perfurados em 2010, dos quais 17 estão localizados na Bacia de Campos, nove na Bacia de Santos e um na Bacia de Parnaíba. A intenção anterior da companhia era perfurar seis poços no próximo ano, mas devido ao "aumento substancial dos volumes estimados", a companhia decidiu mudar os planos.

A consultoria DeGolyer & MacNaughton (D&M) estimou, em relatório divulgado hoje (10), os recursos potenciais da OGX em 6,7 bilhões de barris de óleo equivalente (boe). No relatório anterior, divulgado em março de 2008, na época em que a companhia abriu o capital, os recursos potenciais da companhia haviam sido estimados pela mesma consultoria em 4,8 bilhões de boe. Para efeitos de comparação, as reservas de Tupi, megacampo explorado pela Petrobras no pré-sal da Bacia de Santos, tem reservas estimadas entre 5 bilhões e 8 bilhões de barris.

A probabilidade média de sucesso da atividade de exploração da OGX também melhorou desde o último relatório, quando a D&M calculou uma taxa média de 27%. Agora, a empresa considera uma probabilidade média de sucesso de 34,5%. A estimativa foi feita para todo o portfólio da OGX, formado, no total, por 29 blocos - sete na Bacia de Campos, cinco em Santos, cinco na Bacia do Espírito Santo, cinco na Bacia Pará Maranhão e sete na Bacia de Parnaíba.

CRONOGRAMA. Mendonça explicou que a revisão de estimativas foi possível porque, durante os últimos 12 meses, a OGX adquiriu e processou novas sísmicas 2D e 3D, aplicando tecnologia de última geração ao trabalho de exploração.

Para cumprir o novo cronograma de perfurações, a OGX aguarda a chegada de mais duas sondas de perfuração. De acordo com Mendonça, a unidade semi submersível Ocean Star deve chegar em janeiro de 2010 e a Ocean Lexington, em fevereiro. Com a chegada desses dois equipamentos, a companhia terá cinco sondas de perfuração disponíveis para trabalhar.

O executivo não informou quais são os 17 poços a serem perfurados na Bacia de Campos no próximo ano. "Estamos perfurando mais quatro poços de avaliação. Não temos definição de quais serão os próximos", disse durante teleconferência com analistas.

Mendonça ressaltou, no entanto, que há recursos financeiros suficientes para sustentar a expansão do cronograma. "Temos cerca de US$ 4,5 bilhões em caixa. No programa antigo, estimávamos gastar cerca de US$ 2 bilhões para perfurações nos próximos três a quatro anos. Temos bastante dinheiro para sustentar a nossa companhia", afirmou.

Segundo ele, o atual orçamento da OGX também contempla a participação em leilões adicionais da Agência Nacional de Petróleo (ANP). "Podemos avaliar novas condições de financiamento no momento oportuno, mas não acreditamos que isso será preciso nos próximos anos", disse.(Fonte: Jornal do Commercio/RJ/Tatiana Freitas/AGÊNCIA ESTADO)

quinta-feira, 5 de novembro de 2009

HRT: Nova empresa LPC (Local Private Company)

Comentário do blogueiro: A HRT Petroleum começou como uma empresa de geologia, inclusive com propagandas em revistas especializadas.

Nasce a 2ª maior do petróleo do Brasil

Com quatro sondas contratadas, 21 blocos adquiridos na Bacia do Solimões, no Amazonas, e US$ 275 milhões em recursos, captados ao longo de três meses no mercado internacional, nasce a segunda empresa privada de exploração e produção de petróleo no País, a HRT Oil & Gas. A companhia foi criada pela brasileira HRT & Petroleum, uma das maiores consultorias de geologia do Hemisfério Sul. Mesmo com os negócios de exploração e produção, o grupo continuará com sua área de serviços.

A nova empresa adquiriu da Petra Energia e da M&S Brasil o direito de operar 21 blocos na Amazônia, com 51% de participação nos empreendimentos. De acordo com o presidente da HRT Oil & Gas, o geólogo Márcio Rocha Mello, os campos têm potencial para produzir de 4 a 6 bilhões de barris de óleo leve e de 10 a 20 TCF (trilhão de pés cúbico) de gás natural, o equivalente a 20 bilhões de barris de óleo. "A Amazônia vai ser a maior reserva de gás do Brasil", afirmou.

A empresa já contratou quatro sondas na China, Estados Unidos e Canadá para fazer a perfuração dos poços da região. Do total, duas já estão construídas e outras duas estão em construção. A previsão de Mello é que em junho ou julho do ano que os equipamentos já estejam operando. A estimativa da HRT é de que cada sonda fure quatro poços por ano. Ao final de dois anos, portanto, a HRT pretende ter perfurado 32 poços na área.

Posteriormente, a empresa contratará mais outras duas sondas, totalizando seis equipamentos de perfuração na área até o final de 2010, data na qual Mello estima estar produzindo seu primeiro óleo. Segundo Mello, cada poço na Amazônia tem custo de US$ 6 milhões a US$ 10 milhões.

Em primeiro momento, a empresa pretende utilizar a infra-estrutura da Petrobras para escoar sua produção. Recentemente, a estatal concluiu a construção do gasoduto Urucu-Manaus, com 1,4 mil quilômetros de extensão, e que será estendido até o município de Coari. Outra alternativa que, segundo Mello, terá de ser estudada posteriormente é a de comprimir o gás para transportá-lo com mais facilidade.

No Brasil, além do desejo de participar da décima primeira rodada de licitações da Agência Nacional de Petróleo (ANP), a companhia, segundo Mello, pretende buscar oportunidade em poços nas bacias de Santos, Campos, Espírito Santo, Recôncavo e Barreirinhas.

"Ainda que haja grande interesse por áreas no mar, em um primeiro momento daremos atenção aos blocos em terra, porque a produção ocorre mais rapidamente. Entendemos que, por conta do pré-sal, algumas áreas terrestres ficaram um pouco esquecidas", afirmou. uma nova tropa de choque

A lém de Mello, que é o presidente, a diretoria será composta pelo consultor John Forman, ex-diretor da ANP e Nuclebrás, que será o vice-presidente executivo; por Eduardo Teixeira, ex-presidente da Petrobras e ex-ministro de Infra-estrutura, que comandará a diretoria Financeira; por Antônio Agostini, ex-diretor de exploração e produção da Petrobras, que será diretor de Operações e pelo sócio Mike Vitton, ex-captador para América do Norte do banco de Montreal. A empresa terá 150 funcionários, dos quais 80 são egressos da Petrobras.

"Montamos uma diretoria com os melhores profissionais. Tenho ao meu lado várias lendas vivas da indústria de petróleo nacional. Além disso, contamos com um corpo profissional de alta qualidade, com 29 geólogos com certificado PhD. Nossa empresa sempre deteve o conhecimento do negócio de petróleo e agora vai colocá-lo na prática. Produzir petróleo é o sonho de todo geólogo", afirmou Mello.(Fonte: Jornal do Commercio/RJ/LUCAS VETTORAZZO)

Ex-executivos da Petrobras criam petroleira

Com investimento inicial de US$ 275 milhões, recém-captados com investidores privados, sócios da consultoria HRT Petroleum decidiram criar uma petroleira, que concorrerá com a Petrobras na concessão de áreas de petróleo.

Os executivos, alguns deles ex-Petrobras, anunciaram que a HRT Oil & Gas vai explorar e produzir petróleo e gás inicialmente na bacia do Solimões, na região Norte.

As primeiras 21 áreas a serem exploradas na região foram arrematadas inicialmente por petroleiras de menor porte, como a Petra e a M&S, em leilões realizados nos últimos anos pela ANP (Agência Nacional do Petróleo). A HRT Oil & Gas entrou como sócia, neste ano, em 51% de cada bloco, passando a ser operadora (a responsável pela atividade de exploração e produção).

"A região tem um enorme potencial subestimado. As reservas de gás são mais relevantes do que as que serão encontradas pela Petrobras no pré-sal", diz o presidente da HRT, Márcio Mello.

A HRT foi fundada 2004, atuando inicialmente com a análise de dados sísmicos e exploratórios. Além de Mello, que trabalhou na Petrobras por mais de 20 anos, estão Eduardo Teixeira, presidente da Petrobras entre 1990 e 1991, e John Forman, ex-diretor da ANP.

Segundo Mello, o plano de captação e lançamento da petroleira estava pronto havia um ano, mas teve de ser congelado devido à crise. Os executivos disseram que não tiveram dificuldades em levantar os recursos. Não revelaram quais foram os investidores, mas haveria estrangeiros e brasileiros, entre os quais 40 pessoas físicas.

A meta é investir US$ 2 bilhões em cinco anos. A empresa diz que quer participar dos próximos leilões da ANP, inclusive no mar, e buscar oportunidades no exterior.(Fonte: Folha de S.Paulo/DA SUCURSAL DO RIO)

Nanotecnologia: novo passo dos fluidos de perfuração/completação

M-I SWACO joins Rice University in nanotech research program

Houston, Texas (Oct. 28, 2009) – M-I SWACO has signed an agreement with Rice University to fund a two-year joint research program to investigate the potential uses of nanotechnology in the oilfield and drilling fluids industry.

Nanotechnology is the study of matter, their properties and chemistries, on the nanoscale. Nanoparticles are approximately 1 nanometer (nm) or one billionth (10-9) of a meter in length. By comparison, the smallest cellular life form is over 200 nm in length and a single strand of human DNA is 2 nm in diameter.

M-I SWACO will invest $460,000 over two years. The money will go toward the sponsorship of graduate and post-doctoral students, and collaborative research with Dr. James Tour, Rice's Chao professor of chemistry, mechanical engineering, materials science and computer science who will lead the Rice team.

The M-I SWACO R&D group, led by Dr. Jim Friedheim, director of corporate fluids, will work closely with the students and professors to investigate the use of these unique materials in drilling and completion fluids.

"It is pure research at this point," said James Bruton, M-I SWACO VP for research and engineering, "but the potential for applying nanotechnology to drilling and completions field is great. The opportunity to work with Rice University, the world leader in carbon nanotechnology research, sustains our continuing commitment to be a technology leader in the drilling and oilfield services industry."

Rice University is a leading teaching and research university based in Houston, Texas.

M-I SWACO, which is based in Houston, TX and jointly owned 60% by Smith International, Inc. (NYSE, PSE:Sii) and 40% by Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB), is a leading provider of a wide range of products and engineering services designed to deliver Drilling Solutions, Environmental Solutions, Wellbore Productivity and Production Technologies. The company is strategically located in more than 70 countries.