Pre-salt to give rise to new development centers
O Estado de S. Paulo
With R$ 340 billion (US$ 188.9 billion) to be invested in the country between 2010 and 2013, the oil and gas sector will drive the growth of the investments in industry in the coming years, indicates the report of the National Development Bank (BNDES). Main destination of those resources, the Southeast will witness major transformations. Due to the pre-salt, the oil sector, so far concentrated in Rio, will give rise to development centers in São Paulo and Espírito Santo. The values mapped by the BNDES refer, however, only the initial investment intended for the pre-salt, whose reserves are estimated by the National Oil Agency (ANP) at nearly 50 billion barrels. That indicates the sector should continue growing in the investments of the Brazilian economy, according to the Bank report.
The region of Baixada Santista is one of the regions that will undergo changes with the pre-salt. According to the oil consultant Jean-Paul Prates, the region should be turned into a center as or more important than the Northern of Rio de Janeiro for the sector. "The center of Santos skips steps in relation to Macaé. It has got full conditions to even overcome it within 15 years, due to the pre-existence of a good infrastructure of skilled personnel". In the assessment of Prates, the State of Espírito Santo will also have growing and constant relevance. He says, however, that the State will have a secondary role in relation to Rio and Sao Paulo. Headquarters of Petrobrás and the ANP, Rio should receive a major slice of the investments in the sector.
Other sectors should also be boosted by the exploration of the pre-salt. That is the case of the shipbuilding sector. Four tankers will be built in the Mauá shipyard, in Niterói, to carry oil byproducts. It is a R$ 627.2 million (US$ 348.4 million) investment. In May, Governor Sergio Cabral announced the negotiation for the setting up of a new shipyard in the municipality of Itaguaí, intended for the construction of offshore vessels. In the State of Espírito Santo, Jurong has got an environmental permit in March to build a shipyard in Aracruz, with an investment of US$ 500 million. According to the Brazilian Union of Shipbuilding, Ship Repair and Offshore Industries (SINAVAL), the orders of the Brazilian shipyards have 132 projects under construction, 52 of which are tankers for Transpetro, in the Transpetro Fleet Modernization and Expansion Program (Promef).