RIO DE JANEIRO, March 10 - Use of smaller platforms to pump subsalt oil from deep under the ocean bed would make it cheaper to extract and profitable at an oil price of $40 per barrel, state controlled energy firm Petrobras said on Monday.
Petrobras discovered in late 2007, the potentially huge reserves estimated at up to 80 billion barrels and said it would begin pumping subsalt crude, which lies under a layer of salt rock, from its Tupi field on May 1.
The cost and technical feasibility of extracting the oil, much of which lies at a depth of 7 kilometers (4.4 miles), has been a key question since its discovery but Petrobras insists it can be pumped profitably even after oil prices dived last year.
"Platforms which require fewer people because they are far from the coast ... and that can separate water from oil deep into the sea instead of over a platform, this makes the platform less expensive," said Petrobras financial director, Almir Barbassa.
"Today we're producing heavy crude in deep waters at a lower cost than before, and light oil is much more easy," he said, addressing market analysts on Monday to comment on the company's financial results for the fourth quarter of 2008.
Brazil's subsalt reserves are considered light oil.
The company plans to invest $29 billion in subsalt in the 2009-2013 period according to its five-year business plan published last month. It plans to produce 219,000 barrels per day by 2013, rising steadily to 1.8 million per day in 2020.
To date, Petrobras's highest production in one day was a shade over 2 million barrels, a record set on Wednesday last week, underlining the potential significance of the subsalt production target to the firm's total output.
Petrobras discovered in late 2007, the potentially huge reserves estimated at up to 80 billion barrels and said it would begin pumping subsalt crude, which lies under a layer of salt rock, from its Tupi field on May 1.
The cost and technical feasibility of extracting the oil, much of which lies at a depth of 7 kilometers (4.4 miles), has been a key question since its discovery but Petrobras insists it can be pumped profitably even after oil prices dived last year.
"Platforms which require fewer people because they are far from the coast ... and that can separate water from oil deep into the sea instead of over a platform, this makes the platform less expensive," said Petrobras financial director, Almir Barbassa.
"Today we're producing heavy crude in deep waters at a lower cost than before, and light oil is much more easy," he said, addressing market analysts on Monday to comment on the company's financial results for the fourth quarter of 2008.
Brazil's subsalt reserves are considered light oil.
The company plans to invest $29 billion in subsalt in the 2009-2013 period according to its five-year business plan published last month. It plans to produce 219,000 barrels per day by 2013, rising steadily to 1.8 million per day in 2020.
To date, Petrobras's highest production in one day was a shade over 2 million barrels, a record set on Wednesday last week, underlining the potential significance of the subsalt production target to the firm's total output.
