Petrobras boss: Jose Sergio Gabrielli
Logistics is 'key' to pre-salt challenge
Brazilian state-run Petrobras boss Jose Sergio Gabrielli said logistics were the key challenge in developing recently discovered offshore oilfields.
Quoted by the local Estado news agency, Gabrielli said today in Brasilia that the so-called pre-salt fields 300 kilometres of Brazil's coast created difficulties in transporting equipment and workers to the fields.
Petrobras, for example, will need to buy dozens of new helicopters to transport platform workers, although new platforms could be more automated to reduce the number of needed workers, Gabrielli said.
The company currently shuttles 40,000 workers a month to its offshore facilities, Dow Jones reported.
Transport of oil and natural gas produced at the fields to shore is also a concern.
Petrobras is currently studying possible seaborne natural gas liquefaction plants, which could then transport LNG to onshore terminals or even ship for export.