With the aim of attracting companies from the oil and gas production chain to its state, the Rio Grande do Sul Development and Investment Promotion Agency (AGDI) will be participating in the OTC again this year.

According to AGDI vice-president, Aloísio Nóbrega, the agency has been participating in the event since it started up in 2011, and it will be widening its participation this year with its stand in the Brazil Pavilion. "We will be highlighting the production capacity of companies from Rio Grande do Sul in order to find partners that are focused on equipment for the oil and gas chain," he comments.

The importance of this sector for the state is reflected in the impressive portfolio of commissions for FPSOs and drill rigs from the Rio Grande Shipping Hub, the construction of modules at the Jacuí Shipping Hub, and more recently with the manufacture and assembly of large equipment at the Guaíba Shipping Hub.

The main projects within the sector in the region are: the EBR shipyard under construction in São José do Norte, commissioned to construct modules and integrate P-74; the Ecovix-Engevix shipyards currently being expanded (ERG 1 and 2) that will build eight replicant hubs and three drillships; and the RIG Consortium (Queiroz Galvão/Camargo Correa/Iesa) that will build and integrate two platforms for Petrobras (P-75 and P-77).

"The main challenge, once we have the shipping hub consolidated, is to maintain continuous growth in productivity and guarantee future competitiveness for new Petrobras bids," explains Nóbrega. The main figures for the sector in this state are: US$7 billion in commissions from the Rio Grande Hub, US$911 million in commissions from the Jacuí Hub and US$90 million in commissions from the Guaíba Hub.