The Minister of Mines and Energy, Bento Albuquerque, gave yesterday, 18, in Natal (RN), lecture on the Program to Revitalize the Activities of Exploration and Production of Oil and Natural Gas in Terrestrial Areas, REATE 2020. The lecture was the first of the seminar “Motors of Development” and aimed to discuss the management and future of oil production in Rio Grande do Norte.

Before starting his presentation, Bento Albuquerque applauded the audience by assuring that Petrobras will not leave the RN. "Petrobras has an important role for the Northeast of the country, we should all be proud of the company and it is important that it is here, that maintains its activity in the pre-salt, within its business plan throughout the national territory," he said. Bento Albuquerque, informing that he will go to the field of Buzios, recently auctioned area and considered today, “the most productive area in the world and from which 600,000 barrels a day are removed. And we will reach 2 million barrels, ”said the Minister.

During his speech, he said that 74% of oil and natural gas production is concentrated in one single agent: Petrobras. Still on natural gas, he said the company has full capacity in the transport network and that it operates practically on its own in essential infrastructures. On refining, the Minister pointed out that 98% of oil refining capacity and 100% of production and importation of LPG (cooking gas) are also concentrated. For Albuquerque, “The opening of the oil and natural gas market is a priority for the Federal Government.”

With data proving the concentration of a single company in the market, the Minister presented actions and policies that the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) has been working to promote trade liberalization. One of them is the New Gas Market (NGM) program, which aims to allow new market players to enter. Within the scope of regulation, several states have already sought alignment with the NMG guidelines for updating regulations. The improvement of tax rules will also allow the increase of providers in the market.

In the area of fuels and petroleum products, the MME launched the “Abastece Brasil” initiative, which aims to pave the way for the deconcentration of oil refining. Thus, the refining and logistics assets are expected to be sold by 2021. Another decision of Abastece Brasil is to ensure the end of the practice of differentiated LPG prices from March 1, 2020. The objective is to stimulate the attraction of investments in infrastructure for LPG movement. “We will be, in 15 years, the 5th world producer of oil and gas. And if we do not have the infrastructure, we will have the wealth, the input, and we will not know what to do with it, ”said the Minister.

REATE 2020 

The main theme of the Minister's presentation at the seminar, REATE 2020 promises to strengthen and revitalize exploration and production (E&P) activity in land areas in the country. Thus, the MME expects a strong, competitive, growing production E&P industry with plurality of operators and diversity of suppliers of goods and services.

The strategic objectives of the Program are: to promote the use of resources in low permeability reservoirs; increase the competitiveness of the national onshore oil industry and stimulate local and regional development.

Another important point is the generation of income and employment, which contributes to the promotion of economic activity. Increased revenue allows for improvements in education, health and safety. “REATE 2020 is the crown jewel, it's employment and income in the vein, it's investment and education,” said Bento Albuquerque. "Because there is no point in just having the policy, the program, we have to follow that up, and that is what we want to do so that we remain optimistic in 2020, and even more optimistic for years to come," the Minister concluded.

"REATE is the unprecedented mobilization of the Government, industry, entities, organizations and academia, bringing together synergies in pursuit of the common goal: the revitalization of the Brazilian onshore," said Renata Beckert Isfer, MME's Secretary of Oil, Natural Gas and Biofuels. , also present at the meeting.

In order to achieve the Program's objectives, the National Council for Energy Policy (CNPE) approved, on the last 12th, the creation of the REATE 2020 Committee. With a duration of 120 days, it is composed by the Civil House, MME, Ministry of Economy (ME). , Ministry of Environment (MMA), National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP), Economic Defense Administration Council (CADE) and Energy Research Company (EPE). The goal is to address specific Action Plan issues that need further detail, maturity and discussion.

The next step in the initiative is to improve current regulation to facilitate and encourage a growing industry that is strong and permanently open to technological innovation. To this end, six measures have already been included in the ANP's 2020-2021 Regulatory Agenda. Highlights are the royalty reduction measures on incremental production in Marginal Fields and the abandonment guarantee regulation (compatibility with small and medium-sized companies).

"This is just the beginning, REATE 2020 will enable not only the resumption of production, which is in decline, but new levels never reached before," concluded Secretary Renata Isfer.

Transparent Well Project

The Transparent Well Project is a step-by-step monitoring of well drilling with the hydraulic fracturing technique in order to produce knowledge and demystify the theme before society. The aim is to pursue a sustainable technical, legal and legal framework to ensure that the exploration and production of unconventional oil and gas, such as shale gas - production of natural gas from shales, which has been responsible for repositioning countries, such as the USA, in world production - in an environmentally safe manner.

Included in the Investment Partnership Program at the beginning of the month (DOU link), the Project will be the basis for establishing a regulatory framework that addresses technical, environmental and legal security.