The need for a coordinated dialogue between industry, government and economic agents to avoid clandestine derivations was the keynote of the plenary "Society's perception of pipeline activity", held on the second day of Rio Pipeline 2019.

"Communication with society should be treated as a constant agenda and should not only be seen as a pipeline industry problem. This is a matter of national security as it involves criminal organizations in most cases," she warned. Mexican journalist Ana Lilia Perez (photo) during her presentation at the session. Ana has investigated for years the fuel theft cartel in her country, publishing several books showing how this type of crime has become more profitable than drug trafficking in Mexico.

The journalist presented several examples that illustrate how criminal organizations used the poor financial perspective of poor regions and even religion to entice residents and even officials of Mexico's own state oil company Pemex to steal. "The losses of the state company were up to $ 10 million a day," he added.

Based on one of his books, the Mexican government of Andrés Manuel Obrador has taken action to end the problem. Among them was the identification of stations under the Pemex flag itself, which resold stolen fuel.

A similar path has been pursued by the state government of Rio de Janeiro, according to Under Secretary of Oil, Gas, Energy and Industry, Cristina Pinho (photo). "In the Comperj region, for example, we are taking trucks with various services such as work card issuance, curriculum vitae and other initiatives aimed at demonstrating the potential of this activity in generating jobs and income for the community," she said. secretary as part of the measures being taken to address the problem. "Drug trafficking today sees fuel theft as a cheaper and faster way to make money and is therefore attracting people," she said.

Cristina argued that communication with communities should be permanent to make clear the risks that everyone is taking during a fuel theft action. In some cases these residents and even post owners are threatened. This is why it is so important to encourage the receipt of complaints, "added the undersecretary.

Forums

Natural Gas Infrastructure - During the forum on offshore natural gas export infrastructure, Luiz Costamilan, IBP's Executive Secretary for Natural Gas, highlighted data from a recent study by the Institute that points to the beginning of a period of significant growth. According to the Executive, in the middle of the second half of the decade, Brazil will reach almost twice the current gas supply.

"In terms of infrastructure, what we have available today meets the current gas supply. However, we are facing a major challenge, as from 2024 we need to expand existing infrastructure," said Costamilan.

According to José Mauro Coelho, Director of Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels Studies of the Energy Research Company (EPE), Brazil may become one of the five largest oil and gas producers and exporters in the world. "The main drivers of growth in natural gas production are the pre-salt fields, especially the Campos and Santos basins, the post-salt basins in the Sergipe-Alagoas basin, and the terrestrial basins in the Recôncavo and Solimões basins." , explained, noting that the flow capacity in operation and under construction is 44 million cubic meters per day. "Considering only the pre-salt production, we would reach the limit of this capacity in 2026, generating the need for infrastructure expansion," he added.

Among the ongoing initiatives to expand the pipeline infrastructure is the completion of Route 3, the pipeline that will transport the natural gas that will be produced in the Campos Basin pre-salt fields to Comperj. According to Rafael Imbuzeiro, Petrobras general logistics manager, the project is expected to be completed in 2020 and, from 2021, with UTG Itaboraí, the gas will be placed in the transportation system. Route 4, which provides for gas flow from the Santos Basin to Praia Grande, on the São Paulo coast, is a project that is being developed by Cosan, but has some challenges.

"Perhaps the first challenge among many is the question of the oil producer about the timeframe for infrastructure availability so that it does not threaten the production schedule. Another point is the development of local demand for natural gas, which is a market with many uncertainties. and challenges, "said Ricardo Hatschbach, Cosan Group's New Business Director. "We have an opportunity to build another reality for this market, and we believe that this project fits within these challenges. Today, Brazil reinjects around 40 million cubic meters of gas per day. Runoff is an alternative to this reinjection. ", finished.

Digital Age - At the "Digital Age of Pipelines" forum, a team of executives and researchers gathered to present the current reality and perspectives for the pipeline sector in the field of digital transformation. For Daniel Michilini Carocha, coordinator of the IBP Digital Transformation Commission, moderator of the debate, the advances in this direction aim to achieve efficiency gains for the facilities. This requires sensors that produce data. "Sensor costs have fallen dramatically, but we still need to translate the data they collect into faster decision-making processes," he says.

Siemens O&G sales head Claudio Makarovsky cited some of the company's successful technology cases. Smart pumping stations spread throughout the pipeline networks, particularly in Canada, allow the reduction of gas flaring to keep the system running and hence also the emission of polluting gases. He introduced cloud technology that enables Whatsapp to monitor and control pipelines, where messages trigger action commands.

Augusto Borella, general manager of digital transformation at Petrobras, argues that one should innovate not only in the incorporation of technologies, but also in business models. "We need to achieve real-world convergence in virtually reproduced data," he says, noting that achieving results requires the use of strategic intelligence systematically. In addition, for companies in the industry to move towards a technological future, Borella recommends that they create an environment where experimentation is possible, developing a culture of trust and collaboration.

Mentioning a practical problem in the industry, pipeline corrosion, physics, a professor at the USP Polytechnic School and a researcher at the Zehbour Panossian Institute for Technological Research (IPT), highlighted the internal corrosion of these structures, which is more difficult to detect. In an attempt to obtain reliable data regarding this problem, Panossian points out that new ultrasound sensors have been developed and may reveal the occurrence of the problem outside the pipelines.

Stuart Barvir, Aveva's Vice President of Global Sales, O&G and Midstream, introduced Aveva's Unified Operations Center, capable of real-time monitoring of all data from a pipeline system for agility, cross-structure integration and operational efficiency. . These facilities, which are already a reality in the Middle East and Europe, are likely to be replicated worldwide in the coming years, according to the executive.

Gartner's O&G business director Sergei Beserra closed the meeting by pointing out that the challenge for the industry is to change behavior in technology development. "Our asset cycle is very long, so you can't incorporate technologies quickly," he says. To accelerate this process, he argues, it is necessary to invest in "learning by doing", which implies taking more risks. "It's a new time to explore augmented intelligence, and we have a lot of knowledge in place. What is missing is a mental model," the executive concludes.