With new recovery technologies and low production costs for Petrobras, Amazonian production will be strategic for the state-owned company for many years to come.

Petrobras has just released good news for the population of the capital Manaus and, consequently, its per capita economy. The largest terrestrial oil and natural gas reserve in Brazil in the city of Coari, the urucu, about 365 km from Manaus, will still have production for another 30 years, thanks to technological investments to reduce production costs and increase the recovery factor.

This is a natural phenomenon that occurs in all oil fields around the world, the so-called “mature fields”, when production has a natural decline given the years of exploration of that asset. Gilberto Hosokawa, General Manager of UO-AM, says that there is an amortization of this decline factor, which will allow production for another 30 years at least in Urucu, he says.

Gilberto Hosokawa, General Manager of UO-AM Petrobras

According to the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP), the peak of total production in Amazonas in 2004 was 16 million barrels, in 2017 this number dropped to 7,74 million, a more than 50% drop. The concession for Petrobras to operate in the region runs until 2025 but with these new estimates on the recovery factor for another 30 years, the contracts will be realigned according to the need.

It is worth noting that Urucu for Petrobras has the lowest oil production costs, in addition to good oil quality. Another important point is the strategic location, which makes it easier to supply LPG to the states of Roraima, Rondônia, Maranhão, Piauí and Ceará, emphasizes Hosokawa.

This new fact goes against news we posted here on the bidding portal that Halliburton and Schulmberger were (or are still disputing) launched by Petrobras to present technologies for revitalization of onshore fields. They are one of the few in Brazil and in the world with the technological expertise to increase the recovery factors of any onshore oil asset.

Schlumberger and Halliburton in the bidding dispute launched by Petrobras