Conleste and a Group of Brazilian Companies Will Install Thermal Power Plant in Itaboraí

Infrastructure Already Ready in the Region, Such as the Route 3 Pipeline and Natural Gas Supply from the UPGN of Comperj, Favor the Project Designed for Itaboraí

The municipality of Itaboraí, in Rio de Janeiro, which suffered greatly from the halt in the Comperj works, seems to be slowly recovering, at least if we are to rely on the upcoming projects planned for the region.
Conleste (Intermunicipal Consortium for the Development of the Fluminense East) and D Energy Brasil, a conglomerate of Brazilian companies, are planning to install a thermoelectric power plant (UTE) in Itaboraí to take advantage of the natural gas produced from the pre-salt.

Some factors contributed to the choice of the region to host the Pedra Bonita thermoelectric plant. The first is the use of the Route 3 pipeline being constructed by McDermott, in Jaconé, for the gas flow.
The other advantage of choosing Itaboraí would be the abundance of natural gas from the UPGN being built by Kerui Metodo on the Comperj site in Itaboraí.

The Thermoelectric Plant

The UTE Maria Bonita will have an installed capacity of 1.5 GW and is scheduled to start operations in 2021 according to the initial timeline.
The project will require investments of around US$ 1.5 billion and will generate approximately 10,000 direct jobs at the peak of construction. The project is also financially supported by Qatar Energy.

According to the general director of ConLeste, João Leal, he is optimistic due to the natural gas supply in the region and stated: “The project is at the stage of institutional presentation. Considering the abundance of gas that will flow from the UPGN, it is a natural derivative, a natural consequence of that.”

The Protagonist

Natural gas has indeed taken on the role of protagonist in many businesses in the national oil and gas industry in recent months.
In June, Click Petróleo e Gás had already published that the president of Petrobras, Roberto Castello Branco, declared the possibility of building a gas thermoelectric plant at Comperj, also aiming to utilize natural gas from the pre-salt and the UPGN structure.

“We are studying an idea to construct a large gas thermoelectric plant from Comperj parallel to the memorandum of understanding with CNPC,” the president of Petrobras declared at the time.

According to the director of Conleste, even if the government builds the thermoelectric plant at Comperj, there is demand for another UTE (Pedra Bonita) in the region, given the significant increase in natural gas supply from the pre-salt in the coming years.

It is worth mentioning that another project is planned for Macaé, an investment of US$ 700 million from Pátria Investimentos, Shell, and Mitsubishi. The plant will have an installed capacity of 565 MW and is expected to start operations in 2023.