EnP launches first gas hub project in Brazil

Brazilian integrated energy company EnP launched a $400-500mn project to build a 150km (93-mile) gas pipeline in shallow waters offshore Brazil's southeast region.

The Hub Gasines project aims to bring onshore up to 20mn m³/d (706mn cf/d) of natural gas and is expected to be operational in 4-5 years.

The goal is to create competition in the use of natural gas processing facilities with idle capacity, said EnP chief executive Marcio Felix.This would reduce the need to reinject gas in offshore fields where today there are no gas pipelines. Natural gas reinjection takes place when producers inject gas back into the well, either to increase the flow of crude oil from the well or to sequester gas that cannot be exported.

The project is being discussed with 17 companies, including exploration and production companies, gas traders and consumers.

Hub Gasines will be constructed 30-40km offshore northern Rio de Janeiro and southern Espirito Santo states, connecting four gas processing units: Cabiunas, Sul Capixaba and Cacimbas, owned by state-controlled Petrobras, and Lagoa Parda, owned by EnP and Imetame.

The northern end of the hub will be connected to the existing Sul-Norte Capixaba pipeline. In coming years, at least two more private gas processing facilities will be within reach of the Hub Gasines: Açu Port and Central Port, where new gas thermal power plants are being planned. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) can be transported into the interior state Minas Gerais' capital Belo Horizonte from Aracruz city by the 905km Vitoria-Minas railroad.

Storage for gas is also connected to the hub since EnP intends to invest in depleted fields onshore in Espírito Santo Basin with a capacity up to 1bn m³ and will be one of the first gas storage facilities in Brazil.

EnP was inspired to create the project by the Henry Hub in the US, which is privately owned and allows for the use of transportation and processing companies interested in using the shared facilities, increasing competition for gas buyers and sellers.

EnP wants to announce late this year a partnership with a gas trading company that will sell gas brought to the hub and to the gas storage facilities. The idea is to free gas producers from managing gas transportation, trading and processing.

"Rio de Janeiro and Espirito Santo states have it all: gas terminals, liquefaction facilities, pipelines, thermal power plants, railroads." Felix said. "Since we cannot merge both states, we want to integrate the whole gas infrastructure into the first gas hub in Brazil."

By Flávia Pierry