Wellstream concentrates operations in Brazil
Valor Econômico
The purchase of equipment for the beginning of large scale production in the field of Tupi, the greatest discovery made so far in the pre-salt layer, is exciting the suppliers of Petrobras. British Wellstream is increasing its bet in the region and concentrating its business in the country, although the State-Owned company is tightening up around the suppliers, demanding lower prices and increasing the competition as it divides the purchases in packages. The British company fights with its main rival in the country, the French Technip, for the biding sale of 100 kilometers of flexible lines, which will collect the oil that will come out from seven wells open in Tupi to a floating rig. This rig will also be ordered. Petrobras plans to produce, on the site, more 100 thousand oil barrels a day and 3.5 million cubic meters of gas. This explains why the British designated to Brazil nearly 70% of the 50 million Pounds invested in the two last years.
The state company already produces 30 thousand barrels/day in the giant field of Tupi since May 1. The volume is a result of a long term test (TLD, in Portuguese) which is intended to get to know better the behavior of the reservoir. The flexible lines used in the test were made by Wellstream, which now disputes the new contract, whose winner should be known soon.
So far, the productive capacity of the British company in Brazil for 2010 is idle. That is still not a reason for concern, says the CEO of Wellstrean do Brasil, Luiz Antonio Gomes Araujo, since the orders for the Tupi projects and the lines that will connect the P-56 and P-57 platforms to the Marlim Sul and Jubarte fields, in the basins of Campos and Espírito Santo, respectively, will be concluded.