Alcoa seeks its space in the pre-salt layer
Valor Econômico
The American multinational Alcoa, one of the world leading manufacturers of aluminum, is prospecting businesses in oil exploration in Brazil. In an interview to Valor, Mary Zappone, President of the Oil and Gas Division of the company, said the group wants to fight for the supply of pipeline systems connecting the rigs to submarines oil fields, known in the jargon of the sector as risers, and drill pipes in the country. Created at the end of 2008, the Oil and Gas Division of Alcoa began this year to study the potential of businesses in Brazil with an eye on the pre-salt layer. "Brazil is the greatest explorer of oil in ultra-deepwater", said Mary. In the Gulf of Mexico, the exploration of oil and gas is more consolidated, with greater competition. "We see Brazil with strong potential of business", said the Executive.
In June last year, Alcoa acquired the intellectual property rights of the Asian Noble Group concerning the risers made of welded aluminum, used on surveys and extraction of oil in high seas. With such acquisition, the company now seeks partnerships with suppliers of the sector of oil and gas in order to develop lighter welded aluminum pipes for use in deep-waters. "The lighter equipment is capable of achieving greater depths", she said. Petrobras is elaborating a public tender for the acquisition of 29 drilling rigs. And the American group is already getting itself together in order to be one of the suppliers of the companies that will be contracted by the State company. "Petrobras already uses equipment with Alcoa aluminum", she said. The company will now have finished equipment for such purpose.
With six units in the country, at least one of them, the unit located in Santo André, in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo, shall be in condition to meet such demand in the country. But part of the equipment, manufactured in Russia and in the USA, will still have to be imported. Alcoa also works on the search for solutions in aluminum capable of reducing the weight of drillships, rigs and other conventional structures, which may allow the sector of oil and gas to get to reserves that were previously considered economically unfeasible. Headquartered in Houston, in the USA, the Oil and Gas Division of Alcoa also seeks cooperation with universities in Brazil for the development of technology in this segment. The oil companies are investing in greater projects and of deepwater drilling because they already explored the more accessible reserves of oil and gas.
The experience of Alcoa, besides producing the commodity, is not new. In Brazil, the image of the company is still very much connected to the production of aluminum, but Alcoa makes processed products such as laminated and extruded aluminum products and forged aluminum wheels, fixation systems, superalloy and precision castings, structures and systems for construction.