seg.org - Annual Meeting 2007 news coverage

Global Theatre speakers discuss challenges in Latin America

Sarah Tyler

25 September 2007—Global Theatre presentations on Tuesday had a Latin American focus with speakers from energy agencies, oil and gas companies, and universities in Latin America and the Caribbean. Following are some highlights from the morning session.

The speeches dealt with the geologic and organizational challenges of exploration in Latin America and the different approaches countries are using to pursue sustainable development. These approaches vary from the aggressive business programs used by Columbia and Peru with the private sector to redefining associations with third parties and defining additional taxation policies and royalties like Venezuela and Bolivia.

Speakers also discussed ways in which Latin American countries are trying to modify their laws supporting in-country unitization of hydrocarbon resources by introducing new concessions or association contracts.

Petrobras sponsored the event.

The Brazilian National Petroleum (ANP) company has launched a new five-year plan with a budget of US$750 million dollars, according to Magde M. de Regina-Chamgriard. Brazil has the world’s largest unexplored sedimentary area for oil and gas, she said.

To start the program, Magde M. de Regina-Chamgriard, Superintendent of Exploration for the National Oil Agency of Brazil (ANP), led a discussion titled, “Brazil’s Five-Year Plan for Geological Data Acquisition.” Because there are 29 Brazilian sedimentary basins, about 7.0 million sq km remain unexplored. Brazilian National Petroleum (ANP) plans to uncover these areas as much as possible in the next five years.

Also speaking was Décio Fabrício Oddone da Costa, Executive Manager for the Southern Cone, Petrobras. In his talk, titled, “Petrobras Activities and Views on Exploration Activities in Latin America,” Oddone introduced the subject of potential and problems faced by many Latin American countries regarding growth in oil and gas production. Ninety-two percent of Petrobras’ reserves come from Brazil and only 8% come from international sources; for example, Ecuador has good potential for growth if they can overcome some environmental and regulatory issues. Petrobras plans to increase its investments in seismic acquisition up to US$112 billion in the next five years.

Adán Oviedo, President of Comesa, Mexico, discussed challenges faced by Pemex-related to maintaining current production, increasing reserve rate, and getting enough investment to support deep-sea program developments. From 2001 to 2006, Pemex’s budgets have been the largest in history and will be raised even higher to US$14 billion per year for the next six years, Oviedo-Perez said. To alleviate Cantarell’s natural decline, Pemex’s offshore Campeche Sound activities, onshore Chicontepec focus, and deepwater Gulf of Mexico developments will necessitate diversification of services and technologies. Comesa and Pemex have a history of working together and will continue that relationship to provide integrated solutions by reducing cycle time and complementing Pemex’s current abilities. Comesa is currently involved in many areas including 3D onshore and offshore seismic acquisition, FEL analysis to main oil and gas projects, technical support to design and build offshore facilities, and desalting and dehydration research related to crude and extra heavy offshore oil production.

The morning session ended with Armando Zamora-Reyes, Director of the Hydrocarbon Agency of Columbia (ANH), who presented “Geological Knowledge as the Foundation for the Optimal Development of the Columbian Hydrocarbons Resource Base.” To promote exploration investments, the Hydrocarbon Agency of Columbia (ANH) initiated acquisition of high-quality geological formation data on all of its sedimentary basins, Zamora-Reyes said. New approaches, like systematic gathering of information at the regional level, have led to elements that will contribute to the assessment of the hydrocarbon potential in new environments. This longevity of exploration activity will depend on continuous improvement of geologic prospects.

The ANH was created after Columbia adopted a new strategy for developing its oil and gas industry in 2003, which resulted in exploration activity reaching all-time high levels.

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