Abstract
For many decades, the way to find oil was resulted from a tactile approach and some luck. In the early twentieth century, Brazil started building its National Approach regarding oil and gas. The country nationalized petroleum before even finding it with the creation in 1938 of the National Petroleum Council (Conselho Nacional do Petróleo). After numerous attempts, oil in Brazil was only found in 1939 in the state of Bahia. In 1953, the Brazilian National Oil Company, Petrobras, was created, kicking off a new period in the formation of domestic expertise and technology development, and state-led exploratory efforts. After important (although always insufficient) investments in the search of onshore oil fields, from 1968, Brazil turns to the seas and begins new exploratory cycles focused on the offshore oil research. The international oil prices had begun to escalate, leading to the shocks of the 1970s and the opening of new exploratory frontiers worldwide. The first offshore discovery was registered in a well drilled in shallow waters in the field Guaricema, Sergipe-Alagoas Basin. Nevertheless, Brazil’s real offshore adventure started from the mid-1970s with the first drilling in the Southeastern Campos Basin. From shallow to ultra-deepwaters, the Brazilian NOC, born with the initial mission to build a major national refining industry, gradually transformed itself into a vertically integrated company and then into a major offshore operator. The process of industrialization and modernization of Petrobras will be discussed in this chapter book, with focus on history, technology, policy, and luck from the 1970s oil crisis up to the 2000s pre-salt discoveries. Consistent state efforts put Brazil on the Global Oil Map and allowed the country to develop a reputation as an attractive place for foreign investment.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The Anglo Mexican Petroleum Products Company was founded by the British engineer Weetman Dickinson Pearson (1856–1927). Pearson was the responsible for growing a family firm, focused on public works, from a regional to an international player. By 1905, S Pearson and Son employed 60,000 men and was the largest engineering firm in the world. By 1919, the Pearson group was by far the largest British business. As engineering company, Pearson disembarked in Mexico in 1890. Then, from 1901, encouraged by President Porfirio Diaz (1830–1915), Pearson began to acquire oil concessions in Mexico. After initial successes and disappointments, Pearson made a large oil discovery, the Dos Bocas field, in 1908, which was the largest oil deposit yet found in the world. The Mexican Eagle Co was formed to exploit this field in 1908 (more about the history of Mexican Eagle can be found at: http://letslookagain.com/tag/history-of-mexican-eagle/), and the company became a rival of Standard Oil and other US oil companies already operating in Mexico. By 1914 Mexico was the third largest oil producer in the world, just after the USA and Russia, and Pearson controlled around 60% of the country’s output. At this same period, the company already had a marketing policy of petroleum products and gaining control of petroleum refinement in Latin American countries. By 1919, Shell took over Pearson’s oil interests in Mexico.
- 2.
Some interesting information about the Brazilian government decisions to increase control over the oil industry activities can be mentioned as: “the government strengthened its monopoly over petrochemicals (1967); distribution (1971); overseas exploration (1972); foreign trade (1976); and mining (1977)”; Petrobras was empowered to become an international upstream firm and to seek cheaper oil abroad in areas such as the Middle East and other Latin American countries, and, in 1972, Petrobras International S.A. (Braspetro) was founded; In 1975, the Brazilian government decided to open up its upstream sector to private (national and foreign) participation, through the establishment of the risk contract arrangement. Yet, Petrobras’ independent efforts during the 1970s and the 1980s were much more successful, with the company discovering over 100 significant fields (Rosales 2014, p. 7).
- 3.
Specifically, the 10 awarded Pre-Salt technologies included: (1) first buoy supporting risers (BSR); (2) first steel catenary risers (SCR); (3) deepest steel lazy wave riser (SLWR); (4) deepest flexible riser (in a water depth of 7021 ft); (5) first application of flexible risers with an integrated wire traction monitoring system; (6) water depth record (6900 ft) for a subsea well drilled using the pressurized mud cap drilling (PMCD) technique; (7) first intensive use of intelligent completion; (8) first separation of carbon dioxide (CO2) associated with natural gas in ultra-deepwaters (7283 ft) with CO2 injection into producing reservoirs; (9) deepest offshore well injecting gas with CO2 (7283 ft meter water depth); (10) first use of the alternating water and gas injection method in ultra-deepwaters (7218 ft).
References
Annual Report 2017 (2017) Petrobras, Rio de Janeiro
Awad SP (1997) Albacora field FPS: another deepwater development offshore Brazil. Offshore Technology Conference, 5–8 May, Houston, Texas
Beltrão RLC, Sombra CL, Lage ACVM, Fagundes Netto JR, Henriques CCD (2009) Challenges and new technologies for the development of the pre-salt cluster, Santos Basin, Brazil. Offshore Technology Conference, Texas
Brasil (1933) Decreto n° 23.345, de 10 de novembro de 1933. Available in: http://legis.senado.leg.br/legislacao/listaPublicacoes.action?id=38156&tipodocumento=dEC&tipoTexto=PUB. Accessed 17 Jan 2013
Bruhn CHL, Gomes JAT, Del Lucchese C Jr, Johann PRS (2003) Campos basin: reservoir characterization and management—historical overview and future challenges. Offshore Technology Conference, 15220, May
Bruhn CHL, Pinto ACC, Johann PRS, Salomão MC, Freire EB (2017) Campos and Santos basins: 40 years of reservoir characterization and management of shallow—to ultra-deep water, post- and pre-salt reservoirs—historical overview and future challenges. Offshore Technology Conference, 24–26 October, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Chiaradia K (2008) Ao amigo Franckie, do seu Lobato: estudo da correspondência entre Monteiro Lobato e Charles Franckie (1934–37) e sua presença em “o Escândalo do Petróleo” (1936) e “o Poço do visconde” (1937). Dissertation. University of Campinas, Campinas City, São Paulo State, 439 f
Código de Minas (1934) Diário Oficial da União. Decree nº 24.642, July 10. Available in: http://www2.camara.leg.br/legin/fed/decret/1930-1939/decreto-24642-10-julho-1934-526357-publicacaooriginal-79587-pe.html. Accessed Feb 2019
Crude oil production in Brazil between 1970–2016 (Total, Thousand toe). Available in: https://data.oecd.org/energy/crude-oil-production.htm. Accessed July 2017
de Oliveira EP (1940) História da Pesquisa de Petróleo no Brasil. Serviço de Publicidade Agrícola, Rio de Janeiro
Exploration of Oil in Bahia State, Brazil, in the early of 1960’s. Frederico Waldemar Lange’s Archive (1911–1988), State University of Ponta Grossa. Box 82. [undated]
Goldemberg J, Lucon O (2007) Energy and environment in Brazil. Estudos Avançados. vol 21, No. 59, São Paulo, Jan/Apr, pp 7–20
Lorenzatto RA, Juiniti R, Gomes JAT, Martins JA (2004) The marlim field development: strategies and challenges. Offshore Technology Conference. 3–6 May, Houston, Texas
Magalhães AS, Domingues EP (2014) Blessing or curse: impacts of the Brazilian Pre-Salt oil exploration. EconomiA 15:343–362
Mau Mark, Edmundson Henry (2015) Groundbreakers—The story of oilfield technology and the people who made it happen: Fast-Print Publishing of Peterborough, England, 462 p
Neto JBO, Costa AJD (2007) A Petrobrás e a exploração de Petróleo Offshore no Brasil: um approach evolucionário. Revista Brasileira de Economia. Rio de Janeiro: vol 61, n. 1, Jan/Mar, pp 95–109
Petrobras (2018) Available in: http://www.petrobras.com.br/en/about-us/our-history/. Accessed 22 April
Peyerl D (2017) O Petróleo no Brasil: exploração, capacitação técnica e ensino de geociências (1864–1968). EdUFABC, São Bernardo do Campo
Priest T (2007) The offshore imperative—Shell Oil’s search for petroleum in postwar America. Texas A & M University Press
Rodriguez MR, Suslick SB (2009) Na overview of Brazilian Petroleum Exploration Lease Auctions. TERRAE. Campinas 6(1):6-20
Rosales C (2014) Oil and world power: PEMEX and Petrobras. Analéctica. Argentina: Año 0, No. 4, May, pp 1–9
The pre-salt province—challenges and opportunities for the Brazilian Industry (2011) Petrobras. Available in: http://www.investidorpetrobras.com.br/download/1374. Accessed May 2018
Waisberg I (2011) Brazil’s pre-salt layer—Summary submitted as coursework for PH240, Stanford University, Fall. Available in: http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2011/ph240/waisberg1/. Accessed May 2018
Acknowledgements
Drielli Peyerl thanks especially the current financial support of grant Process 2017/18208-8 and 2018/26388-9, São Paulo Research Foundation (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo—FAPESP).
The authors gratefully acknowledge support from SHELL Brasil and FAPESP through the “Research Centre for Gas Innovation - RCGI” (Fapesp Proc. 2014/50279-4), hosted by the University of São Paulo, and the strategic importance of the support given by ANP (Brazil’s National Oil, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency) through the R&D levy regulation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
dos Santos, E.M., Peyerl, D. (2019). The Incredible Transforming History of a Former Oil Refiner into a Major Deepwater Offshore Operator: Blending Audacity, Technology, Policy, and Luck from the 1970s Oil Crisis up to the 2000s Pre-salt Discoveries. In: Figueirôa, S., Good, G., Peyerl, D. (eds) History, Exploration & Exploitation of Oil and Gas. Historical Geography and Geosciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13880-6_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13880-6_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-13879-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-13880-6
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)