Partnership and collaboration between oil companies are ever more important for the progress of the exploration and production area worldwide, particularly in the current context of economic crisis and low oil prices. This was the theme of a panel discussion entitled “Collaboration 2.0 – Reinventing the E&P Industry,” which Petrobras’ executive manager for acquisitions and disposals, Anelise Lara, moderated on the second day of the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, the world’s biggest oil engineering event, held on Tuesday, September 27, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The panel’s members, made up of Petrobras’ partners in the Libra area, focused on their shared everyday experience in the block. The area’s executive manager, Petrobras employee Fernando Borges, highlighted the diversity of companies in the consortium, in terms of both location and profile. He explained that the project is an example of a strong partnership, involving the sharing of talents, knowledge, experience and funding costs. “This collaborative environment can be very useful for coming up with new ideas, benefiting the Libra project,” he said.

Borges gave examples of how technological cooperation and the sharing of experiences among the project’s partners have generated cost savings. They included the use of an alternating water and gas injection system via the same flexible line, and a reduction in the diameter of the service line, which cut the amount of investment required by US$400 million. Another example was the simplification of the intelligent completion system of one of the project’s wells, which led to a US$150 million reduction in investment.

Libra is the first project in Brazil designed under a production-sharing model (an E&P regime through which one or more companies sign a contract with a state-owned enterprise, providing for compensation for the parties by sharing the output of an oil field). In this project, Petrobras’ partners are Shell (20%), Total (20%), CNOOC (10%) and CNPC (10%). Petróleo Pré-Sal S.A. (PPSA) is the federal government’s representative. So far, the drilling of seven wells has been completed, and the eighth well, in the northwest part of the block, is currently being drilled. Libra’s initial production system is scheduled to start up in 2017.

This block is not the first case of a successful partnership at Petrobras. We have worked successfully together with many other oil companies in onshore and offshore asset E&P activities, and this has intensified since the pre-salt deposits were discovered. This strategy has enabled an intense exchange of experiences and technology transfer, improving Petrobras’ competitiveness on a global level. Today, just 10 years after the first discovery there, the pre-salt layer is already producing more than 1 million of barrels of oil per day.

Petrobras’ new 2017-2021 Business and Management Plan calls for extending collaboration between it and other companies. The idea is for Petrobras to reduce its project risks and share the investments with other groups, thereby decreasing its need for capital to develop its projects. Petrobras plans to invest US$74.1 billion over the course of this period. Through partnerships and disposals, we aim to generate US$40 billion of additional investment over the next 10 years, funded by other companies in the sector in Brazil.

The panel discussion’s participants included the vice president of Shell Brasil, German Burmeister, the president and CEO of Total E&P Americas, Michel Hourcard, the vice president of CNPC Latin America, Wang Yinxi, and the vice president of CNOOC International Limited, Hongbo Zo. The Brazilian government was represented in the discussion by PPSA CEO Oswaldo Pedrosa.

Petrobras employees receive award for contributions to industry

Four Petrobras employees received the 2016 Regional Award for South America and Caribbean, handed out by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), a leading organization in the global oil and gas industry. The award was given to four qualified engineers – Flávio Vianna (project implementation general manager), Cezar Paulo (lifting, transfer and processing manager), Adalberto Rosa (reservoir engineer senior consultant) and Márcia Lisboa (process safety senior consultant, who retired at the end of last year) – for their contributions to the oil industry.