Petrobras brings unprecedented techniques to Brazil
Valor Econômico
January 2011: a Zeppelin airship 20 meters long and 7 meters tall crosses the skies of the cities of Guararema, Ribeirão Pires and Mauá. It's neither a sightseeing tour nor the rebirth of the air transport vehicle created by the Germans that was very successful in the 30s. It is an unmanned airship with a mission of carefully monitoring the construction of the pipelines of Gasan 2 (Mauá-São Bernardo do Campo) and Gaspal (Rio de Janeiro-São Paulo). The first "air patrol" was made on January 6.
The huge volume of works, with planned investments of US$ 224 billion in four years (2010-2014), and the need to reduce the costs and time of the works, increasing productivity, is leading Petrobras to seek engineering solutions never seen in Brazil, many of which were previously considered unfeasible due to the insufficient of volume of services. And the search of the State company stimulates the national companies to develop or import technologies to compete in the niche of services.
Also seeking to reduce the loss of precious hours, sometimes weeks and even months in the worksites, the company began to experience the complicated putting up of gigantic covers on top of the worksites to prevent the stoppage of the works in the rainy periods. Recently, in the region of Guararema (SP), it was successfully installed a 3.5-kilometer-long cover to allow the continuation of the works of installation of the pipelines. Also in Guararema was installed a 17-thousand-square-meter cover - more than twice the green of the Morumbi stadium - that is 43 meters tall to allow the installation of a fuel pumping station without the risk to stop the works because of the rain.
In the area of pipelines and drilling there are many novelties the State company and the market in general are testing to gain time and reduce prices. One of the solutions being tested is the coupling of parts without the need of welding or bolts, using a technology with pressure sleeves. Also in the area of welding, together with the search for automatic and semi-automatic alternatives to the traditional electrode technology, Petrobras is integrating other novelties, such as the so-called "fast and automatic darkening mask", a welding mask that prevents the need of the welder lifting it, as it happens with the traditional mask, to see the exact point of welding.
According to engineer Sergio Donizete, Sector Manager of Development of Technologies for Construction and Assembling of the State Company, just using the mask allows productivity gains of up to 30% in the welding process. The use of robots, fairly widespread in the car industry, is also being considered, but the engineer admits the technique has limitations because there aren't many repetitive procedures in the works of Petrobras. He assesses Robotics may be used in the construction of ships.