Brazil roundup: Air Liquide-Casa dos Ventos PPA, Petrobras-Shearwater MOU and more

Air Liquide-Casa dos Ventos PPA

Air Liquide and Casa dos Ventos have signed a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) for renewable energy, with a total capacity of 24MW, to supply Air Liquide's operations in Brazil.

The wind power generated will enable Air Liquide to reduce the CO2 emissions associated with its operations. 

Casa dos Ventos will supply the energy from its Folha Larga Sul wind complex, located in Bahia state, which has capacity of 151MW.

New oil wells

Petrobras will start drilling new wells in the Campos basin in 2025, said the general manager of Petrobras' business unit in the region (UN-BC), Alex Murteira Celem, during the Macaé Energy event in Macaé on Thursday. 

The campaigns will be carried out in the Forno, Água Marinha and Norte de Brava exploration blocks. 

"We're going to drill the first exploratory well in Águas Marinha, in the pre-salt of the Campos basin, and we're very hopeful, given the knowledge we have of the area, that it will be the future of the basin," said Celem.

Oil and gas output

Average oil production under the production sharing regime was 872,000b/d in April, down 9% from March, according to Pré-Sal Petróleo (PPSA).  

The Búzios field was the biggest producer with 488,000b/d, followed by Mero, with 154,000b/d, and Sépia, with 75,000b/d. 

Natural gas exports (i.e., gas made available to the market) in April amounted to 3.38Mm3/d, up 32% on the previous month.

Atlanta field

Altera Infrastructure has decided to stop production on the Petrojarl I FPSO in the Atlanta field, operated by Enauta. 

Production from the Atlanta field is expected to resume during this month.

The installation of 19 of the 20 anchors has been completed on FPSO Atlanta, which will replace Petrojarl I as part of the field's definitive development system. 

The connection of the first two wells to the platform is scheduled to begin next week.

Solar partnership

Huawei, in partnership with HDT, has signed an MOU with PHB Solar, which operates in the field of solar system distribution. 

With this pre-contract, PHB Solar will now have Huawei Digital Power products in its portfolio.

New solar plants

Usinas Brasil Solar (BRS) has launched five new projects for distributed generation solar plants in three Brazilian states, totaling 90 million reais (US$16.7mn) in investments and 15MW of power.

The plants will be installed in Rio de Janeiro (Japeri and Piraí, with 5 MW each), Goiás (Catalão, with 1MW, and Hidrolândia, 2MW) and São Paulo (Dois Córregos, 2MW). 

The equipment that will be used in all the plants is from MTR Solar.

Shearwater R&D MOU

Petrobras has signed an MOU with Norwegian company Shearwater to develop and carry out scientific research and technological innovation in seismic processing and acquisition. 

The aim of the agreement, which will last five years, is to increase the quality of the data obtained, as well as acquisition efficiency.

Offshore innovation center

Shell, Universidade de São Paulo university (USP), the technological research institution IPT and the São Paulo research foundation Fapesp have launched an offshore technology innovation center (Otic) aimed at generating knowledge and boosting technologies to decarbonize the oil and gas industry.

With more than 250 researchers involved, OTIC starts with a portfolio of 24 research and development projects funded by Shell Brasil and Fapesp. Shell Brasil will invest approximately 49mn reais through the ANP's RD&I (research, development and innovation) clause.

Petrobras divestment

Petrobras has completed the process of selling its stake in Metanor, based in Camaçari, in Bahia state. 

Metanor is a joint stock company set up in 1969 and jointly controlled by Petrobras and Dexxos Participações. 

Through its subsidiary Companhia Petroquímica do Nordeste (Copenor), it operates in methanol sales and production of derivatives, notably formaldehyde and hexamine.

Solar inverters

Livoltek will inaugurate Latin America's first solar energy inverter factory in the Manaus free trade zone, in Amazonas state, in July. 

The investment is around 70mn reais and is expected to create more than 600 jobs. 

The investment also includes another initiative by the business group: the manufacture of lithium batteries and electric vehicle chargers, with production due to start in late 2024.