(Photo: Reuters/Pilar Olivares)
A Petrobras (PETR4) wants to reopen a well in the Roncador field, in the Campos Basin, in 2025, with the potential to produce 1.7 million cubic meters of natural gas per day, amid the company's efforts to increase the supply of the input and contribute to reduction of prices, said president Magda Chambriard, this Thursday (26).
The initiative, according to the executive, is part of a broad effort by the company that seeks to expand the supply of national natural gas, meeting government demand.
According to the executive, in recent years the company has progressively increased the volumes of natural gas reinjection into offshore wells as a way of boosting oil production and, with it, the profitability of assets that have associated gas production.
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“Who is the Roncador camp? It is an oil field, no one has any doubt, and this field has a single closed well, which we have identified, which can alone produce 1.7 million cubic meters of gas per day,” Chambriard told reporters, backstage at the oil and gas congress ROG.e.
By way of comparison, the predicted volume would today place the Roncador well as the twelfth largest gas producer in the country, according to the most recent data from the ANP. And it would represent just over 1% of the country's total production, of 151.3 million cubic meters per day, according to July data.
For the president of Petrobras, the well will probably come into operation next year. “We will search for and mine gas wells,” she added.
Asked whether Petrobras could adopt subsidies to reduce the price of gas, Chambriard denied.
According to her, gas is a commodity that follows parameters, but has a “very strong” regional component, and the company will seek to gain in scale, expanding the supply of the input, which could contribute to a reduction in prices.
“When we talk about gas, about lowering the price of gas, we are also talking about an issue that has to do with the law of supply and demand. More gas, lower price,” he said.
“What I think about gas in the short term is to put more gas, we strive to put more gas in the shortest possible time on the coast,” he stated.
Much of Brazil's natural gas consumption occurs in thermoelectric generation, but the government wants to encourage an increase in demand for the input on other fronts, mainly in industries in sectors such as fertilizers.
Last month, the government formalized the Gas to Employ program, which aims to increase the supply of gas and reduce the price to the end consumer through actions such as reducing the reinjection of input into new oil wells.
Over the next ten years, the projected demand for natural gas for residential, commercial and industrial segments will increase by 37.5%, the Ministry of Mines and Energy said on Thursday, citing figures from a study prepared in conjunction with the Energy Research Company (EPE).
The national supply projected in the integrated network is expected to grow by almost 100% by 2034, while import capacity will grow by 20% in the same period, added the ministry.