Roundup: Pelotas basin seismic, Petrobras fertilizer plant, free power market expansion and more

Seismic

Shearwater Geoservices has begun a multi-client 3D seismic campaign in the Pelotas basin, off Brazil’s south coast.  

The basin attracted significant interest in regulator ANP’s fourth open acreage bidding round in December, with federal oil company Petrobras, Shell, CNOOC and Chevron acquiring exploration blocks in the region.  

The initial phase of the Pelotas basin 3D will be 3,800km2, with a planned extension.

Fertilizers

Petrobras has approved the return to operational activities at the Araucária Nitrogenados Ansa fertilizer plant, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company. 

The plant, located in Paraná, has been dormant since 2020. It has the capacity to produce 720,000t/y of urea and 475,000t/y of ammonia, as well as 450,000m3/y of liquid automotive reducing agent (Arla 32).

Operations are expected to restart in the second half of 2025.

Biogas

Gás Verde (Urca Energia) and Vesuvius have announced a five-year contract to supply 6.9Mm3 (million cubic meters) of biomethane to replace natural gas at the latter’s steel plant in Rio de Janeiro.

With this volume, Vesuvius will avoid more than 14,000t of CO2  emissions, reducing the polluting gases from its manufacturing operation by more than 99%. 

Oil and gas output

Brazil’s oil and gas production in April amounted to 4.05Mboe/d (million barrels of oil equivalent per day), according to ANP.

With regard to oil, 3.19Mb/d were extracted, down 4.8% compared to the previous month and up 1.7% from the same month in 2023.

Natural gas output in April was nearly 137Mm3/d. There was a 5.1% drop compared to March 2024 and a 3.5% decrease compared to April 2023.

Oil logistics

Vast Infraestrutura has signed a commercial contract with BW Energy for oil transshipment services. 

The one-year agreement provides for activities at Vast’s terminal (T-Oil) in Açu port, Rio de Janeiro state. 

Solar logistics

Solfácil has opened a new distribution center in Jundiaí, São Paulo. 

With an investment of 200 million reais, the center will help optimize the company's logistics, reducing the average delivery time in the southeast from 11 working days to six days.

The space will store on-grid and hybrid inverters, batteries, vehicle chargers, miscellany for photovoltaic kits and ampera IoT hardware, a proprietary smart device that monitors solar energy systems.

Capitalization

Eletrobras' board has approved raising up to 10.9 billion reais. 

The amount includes raising financial resources abroad from Citibank, with a principal value of up to 4bn reais, the issue of commercial notes in the amount of 2bn reais, and an debenture issue by the subsidiary Chesf in the amount of 4.9bn reais. 

Free market

Brazil’s electric power commercialization chamber CCEE registered the entry of 7,152 new consumers into the free (non-regulated) market between January and April, equivalent to 97% of all migrations last year. 

The pace reflects the relaxation of the criteria for access to the market, allowing everyone who is connected to high voltage to enter the segment from January 2024.  

Electromobility

Osten Group has partnered with BYD and 99 to offer 200 BYD Dolphin electric vehicles. 

The action is part of the Alliance for Sustainable Mobility, a group created to boost vehicle electrification and charging infrastructure in Brazil through app-based transportation. 

In total, Osten Group will invest 1.5mn reais in this operation.