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Success at the WPC 2008

Once again, Petrobras was an outstanding participant at the biggest oil congress in the world, the World Petroleum Congress. In the 2008 event, the 19^th WPC, held from June 29 to July 3 in Madrid, the company shone in several fields. Its team of specialists presented 21 technical studies on the principal panels and attracted the attention of the global oil industry on account of the exhibition about the new exploratory frontiers in Brazil and the recent natural gas and oil discoveries in the pre-salt layer of the Santos Basin. Young company technicians won the award Best Young Author in recognition of their study Perspectives of the Southern Cone Gas Balance Using a Game Theory. In addition, the Petrobras booth, totally constructed from recycled material, received much praise from both the public attending the Congress and energy industry representatives in general because of its identification with the theme of the event, which was “A World in Transition: Energy Supply in Support of Sustainable Growth.”

The study presented by Petrobras on Tupi caused the biggest stir at the 19^th WPC

Technical Studies

At the 19^th WPC, the Petrobras team presented projects and studies on gas and oil exploration in deep water, natural gas, refining, renewable energy, the storage and capture of carbon, petrochemicals, and business management. In this context, the study presented on new exploratory frontiers caused the biggest stir. “The study comprised a review of the Petrobras achievements in the area of Exploration and Production. It covered the activities of the company since the beginning in onshore sedimentary basins and the revision of previously held technical and technological paradigms in the Campos Basin, up to the present moment when Petrobras is celebrating the discovery of the pre-salt oil province located beneath an extensive salt layer extending along considerable stretches of the Brazilian continental platform. Within the province, the outstanding discovery was Tupi, with a recoverable volume estimated between five and eight billion barrels and production expectations which could elevate the company to the select group of oil exporting companies,” explains the Petrobras executive manager of Exploration, Mario Carminatti.

The Petrobras president, José Sergio Gabrielli, also spoke at the plenary session on the subject, highlighting the initiation of long-term testing (TLD) in Tupi, in 2009, when two wells will come onstream for 15 months, providing Petrobras with data on the reserve rock properties and the fluids contained in the discovery, among other details. This data will define the exploration and production strategy for the entire region. He also discussed the pilot project whereby Petrobras will produce 100,000 barrels of oil and about 3.5 million m³ of natural gas per day in 2010 and the challenges involved in transporting natural gas extracted from Tupi to the São Paulo coast, a distance of 300 km from the giant oil and gas accumulation.

Other accumulations discovered in the Santos Basin pre-salt layer, such as Bem-te-Vi, Carioca, Parati, Caramba, and Jupiter, were also mentioned, as well as the characteristics of the existing reserves in the pre-salt layer in the Espírito Santo and Campos basins.

Awards

At the event, the Best Young Author award, given for the best study carried out by authors up to 35 years of age, also went to Petrobras. The production engineers Jaime Turazzi Naveiro, Fernando Mauricio de Aquino Mendes, and Pedro Leonardo Neves Medina were granted the award for their work entitled Perspectives of the Southern Cone Gas Balance Using a Game Theory. They received their award directly from the King of Spain, Juan Carlos.

“This victory was a first for Petrobras. We had thought of preparing the study for presentation in an important event of the energy industry. When the company started to motivate teams to develop projects for the WPC, we decided to prepare the article for this congress. A game theory course which I had taken at Petrobras University was preponderant in defining the scope of the work. When finished, the study competed with more than 1,000 other entries. The award was a thankful recognition of our hard work and was a motive of pride for us, who had been given the opportunity to represent Petrobras abroad in an event of international importance,” says Jaime Naveiro, who works in the International Business Area of Petrobras.

The work comprised a market study on the supply and demand of natural gas in the Southern Cone and an analysis of the sector from a game theory perspective, as a means of helping the decision making process in the region under review. “We used Shapley’s concept of value, which quantifies bargaining power, and we took into consideration new projects foreseen for the region, as a method to identify tendencies and alterations in the bargaining power of countries in future negotiations,” highlights Fernando Mendes, who works in the Petrobras Systems and Management Development area.

The great practical utility of the study emphasizes its importance in the international context. “The study is a contribution to the analysis of strategic actions in the Southern Cone and makes possible the carrying out of sensitivity studies for new investments in the region and the search for sectoral equilibrium,” adds Pedro Medina, also a member of the team in the International Business Area of Petrobras. The study will also serve as a basis for future company decisions with respect to the natural gas market.

The Ecological Booth

The Petrobras booth was also a big success with the participants at the congress because of the perfect alignment between the design and the theme of the congress, which focused on sustainable growth. “The roof of the booth consisted of recycled paper mobiles in the shape of birds. The walls and the totems were constructed with cardboard tubes. Counters, benches, and furniture in general were made of structural cardboard and PET bottles were used in the counters. The floor was covered in MDF, which simulates wood. The panels of the booth were made of wood chips taken from certified reforestation projects, held together with water-based glue. We also adopted sustainable methods. Instead of exhibiting printed images on plastic sheets, which are not reusable, we used LCD monitors. The refrigerators bought were free of chlorofluorocarbon. The illumination and the audio, video, and computer equipment used were certified by Energy Star. Maximum advantage was taken of the natural ventilation by the use of ceiling openings in the design. Garbage collection in the location was selective. In addition, the constructed area was reduced. In short, we favored the low consumption of natural resources and energy,” explained the Petrobras manager of International Relations, José Higino da Rocha Sobrinho, referring to the project developed for Petrobras by the company Zero2 Arquitetura.

Petrobras production engineers took home the Best Young Author award

Thanks to all this, in the WPC 2008, Petrobras was successful in attracting the attention of the public present and left its message: the company is investing in its human resources, is growing, is allying its business to sustainability and will increasingly broaden its participation in Brazilian and international scenarios.