Offshore staff

RIO DE JANEIRO – Petrobras has signed a R$1.95-billion ($587-million) contract for construction of the natural gas processing unit to be installed in Itaboraí, Rio de Janeiro state.

This will form part of the Route 3, intended to exploit natural gas produced from presalt fields in the Santos basin.

The Specific Purpose Entity formed by Chinese company Shandong Kerui Petroleum and Brazil’s Método Potencia will start work on the project before mid-year, with start-up scheduled for the second half of 2020.

According to Petrobras, this will be Brazil’s largest gas processing facility with a 21 MMcm/d capacity.

It will expand the company’s presalt gas offloading and processing capacity from 23 MMcm/d to 44 MMcm/d, at the same time reducing the company’s reliance on natural gas imports.

In addition, Route 3 includes construction of a 355-km (220-mi) gas pipeline: the 307-km (191-mi) offshore section from the presalt cluster fields has already been installed.

04/03/2018