PETROBRAS MAGAZINE
Global Connections
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The Brazilian Atlantis Oceanic expedition investigates planet’s history
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EXPLORING PMGC
PETROBRAS MAGAZINE
Global Connections
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Welcome to the new Petrobras Magazine Global Connections
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PETROBRAS MAGAZINE
Global Connections
Goes beyond the print edition. The digital version is dynamic and interactive. You can also access the magazine on the internet. Access and participate! Printed magazine —
facebook — facebook.com/ fanpagepetrobras
iPad and Android —
web — www.petrobras. com/magazine
e are proud to present Petrobras Magazine’s new editorial project. The energy that drives forward Petrobras’s innovative actions in exploration and production in deep waters and in new exploratory frontiers, such as the presalt, is the source of inspiration for this new venture. We are constantly striving to bring ourselves closer to our audience by offering relevant content, sharing ideas and debating important questions about the future of energy. We are also giving more room for inspirational moments, good stories and innovative visions of people who have made a difference in this world. Our desire to connect these different visions is demonstrated in the name of the magazine: we added the expression “Global Connections” to Petrobras Magazine. Our magazine has been on a journey full of innovation for 20 years. What inspires us today in this new chapter is being able to increase our dialogue through multiple points of view, by developing our participation over diverse platforms and by enriching debates around big questions about oil, gas and the world of energy. This 64th edition includes new sections and a new design which follows
Petrobras’s global identity. It is a pleasure for us to present subjects such as Dialogues, which sees specialists like Mauricio Guedes, director of the Technological Park of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and John McLaughlin, President of the Silicon Valley Historical Association in the US, providing an interesting debate about the future of technology hubs; Over The Seas, which presents the onboard diary of an intriguing submarine expedition in the Atlantic Ocean, on which geologists from Petrobras and Brazilian and International institutions participated; and the insightful art of the creative Sarah Morris. These innovative and entrepreneurial people demonstrate inspiring journeys by sharing a few of their experiences. We also invite you to discover the tablet version of the new magazine, which brings you more interactivity and exclusive photo, video and audio galleries. We hope that you enjoy the project and that we can be better connected. Enjoy your reading, Petrobras Magazine Global Connections Team
STAFF EXECUTIVE MANAGER FOR CORPORATE COMMUNICATION: Wilson Santarosa | INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION MANAGER: Eraldo Carneiro da Silva | SPECIAL PROJECTS MANAGER: Patricia de Mello Dias | EDITOR AND COORDINATOR: Estephani Beiler Zavarise | EDITORS: Carlos Aurélio Werneck de Miranda e Silva and Leonardo Queiroz de Sá | IMAGE EDITOR: Suzana Fuhrken Peixoto | INTERNS: Rafaela da Rocha Costa, Valquíria Helena Duarte da Costa and Caio Santana EDITORIAL STAFF DOWNSTREAM: Gustavo Melione Abreu | INTERNACIONAL AREA: Raphael Dias de Souza | RESEARCH CENTER: Liza Ramalho Albuquerque | EXPLORATION AND PRODUCTION: Tarcísio Valente Lima | ENGINEERING, TECHNOLOGY AND MATERIALS: Michele Nunes Lima | GAS AND ENERGY: Sandra Vasconcellos Chaves | CORPORATE IMAGE AND BRAND: Alexandre Henrique Pott | PRESS: Paula de Oliveira Almada Moraes | MULTIMEDIA: Leonardo Bruno Bocks Avellar | PETROBRAS BIOCOMBUSTÍVEL: Rodrigo da Costa Coutinho | STAFF RELATIONS: Patricia Alves do Rego Silva | SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: Elizete Pompa Antunes Vazquez | INVESTOR RELATIONS: Orlando Costa Gonçalves Junior | HEALTH, SAFETY, ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND THE ENVIRONMENT: Jose Carlos Coelho Cidade | CULTURAL AND SPORTS SPONSORSHIP: Fabio Jose Melo Malta
PETROBRAS MAGAZINE
Global Connections
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Exploring PMGC Editorial
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Dialogues
Hubs for a technological future
12 16 All Over
A new energy index in Davos
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22 24 36
Energy Geek Beating the clock
Prisma
Radical Change & Existence Maximun
Over The Seas A dive into the mystery of the Brazilian Atlantis
Spiral
Getting the ball rolling from the north to the south
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Inside Story Super-alloys for pre-salt
Art Book
Provocations in diagrams
CREDITS PUBLISHER: Llorente & Cuenca | EDITOR: Anatricia Borges | JOURNALIST RESPONSIBLE: Natalia Pacheco | TABLET VERSION PRODUCER: Víctor Valverde | REVISION: Raquel Abrantes | TRANSLATION: Batata Comunicações | PHOTOGRAPHY: Francisco de Souza | ART EDITOR AND COORDINATOR: Yolanda Yebra | DESIGN, ILLUSTRATIONS AND PHOTOGRAPHIC DIGITAL ART: Tres Simple | INFOGRAPHICS: Nicolás Diez, Sebastián D’Aiello, Pini Day Petrobras Magazine Global Connections is not sold. To request a subscription or information, or to send in a letter or suggestions, contact our editorial team at the address below: Petrobras / Comunicação Internacional Avenida República do Chile 65, sala 1001 - Rio de Janeiro - RJ CEP: 20031-912 Brasil Email: petromag@petrobras.com.br Website: www.petrobras.com/magazine This edition’s content was finalized on April 25, 2014. The partial or total reproduction of this publication’s articles is authorized provided that the source is credited. Copyright 2014 by Petrobras. Affiliated to the Brazilian Association of Corporate Communication.
DIALOGUES
Hubs for a technological future Entrepreneurial culture and innovation have generated a kind of contemporary Renaissance with the creation of technology hubs across the world. From Silicon Valley in the USA to the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro Technology Park in Brazil, these centers of intelligence have surprised people with the expansion in technologies that are driving society’s development
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n the more than 150 interviews that the president of the Silicon Valley Historical Association, John McLaughlin, conducted with entrepreneurs in the 1980s and 1990s, few company founders were focused on making money. What Apple’s Steve Jobs and Adobe’s John Warnock and Charles Geschke really wanted was to have a positive impact on civilization by creating new technologies.
Entrepreneurship drove multi-milliondollar businesses – Apple, Google, Yahoo, Facebook, and e-Bay - and resulted in a digital revolution that dictated new standards of behavior in society. This contemporary renaissance has inspired other technology hubs, such as the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) Technology Park in Brazil, which has become one of the world’s leading centers for the development of technologies related to oil and gas.
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To better understand the impacts of technology hubs on society, Petrobras Magazine Global Connections spoke to American political scientist John McLaughlin and Rio-native Mauricio Guedes, director of the UFRJ Technology Park. In this exclusive interview, they highlight the enterprising culture and innovation of these locations and give their opinions about the future of hubs in the 21st century.
DIALOGUES
INSPIRATION PMGC: How has Silicon Valley influenced your lives? McLaughlin: My family moved to Silicon Valley in the 1950s, when I was 12 years old. My father worked as a rocket designer for the Navy in New Mexico and he was due to take up the position of chief engineer at a startup in Palo Alto. I finished high school at the time of the Vietnam War (1959-1975), and the choice was to go to university or fight in the war. I studied Political Science at the University of Oregon, majoring in the modernization of societies. In the late 1970s, I returned to the Valley for a high-school reunion. I noticed that they had become immersed in a new entrepreneurial culture, which would influence first the United States and then the world.
Guedes: I graduated in production engineering in 1975, at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), and I have spent my entire professional life in the area of science and technology. Not as a scientist, but in interactions between research activities and companies. In the 1990s, at UFRJ we began discussing the creation of a technology park within the university – ranked as one of the country’s centers of excellence. We were inspired by the University of Stanford, which created its industrial park in 1950. The model was the embryo of Silicon Valley. At that time, I was working at the Technology Projects, Research and Studies Coordination Foundation (Coppetec), after having worked at the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPQ) and the Brazilian government’s Industrial Technology Secretariat.
PMGC: In your opinion, what is the importance of technology hubs? McLaughlin: At hubs, the presence of capital, the sharing of ideas and constant brainstorming create competitive advantages that you don’t find outside an environment like this. Ideas arise, such as using solar panels to generate energy, wireless internet connections, and popularizing the use of drones – not for military purposes, but to transport goods, as Amazon has already announced. In other words, you can have a completely isolated and self-sufficient company anywhere, but the sharing of ideas is lost; hubs permit continuous sharing. Guedes: We saw the successful experiences of Silicon Valley and we – UFRJ researchers and I – dreamed of an environment bringing together
Copycats The name Silicon Valley has inspired other technology centers around the world. New York’s cluster of technology companies is known as Silicon Alley. The Cambridge region of England has been nicknamed Silicon Fen. The Indian city of Bangalore, which is home to a number of software companies, is also called India’s Silicon Valley. In Brazil, the city of Santa Rita do Sapucaí, in the state of Minas Gerais, which has a number of technology companies surrounding the National Telecommunications Institute, has been nicknamed Electronics Valley.
JOHN MCLAUGHLIN WAS BORN IN EL PASO, TEXAS, IN 1949. He is a political scientist and one of the founders of the Silicon Valley Historical Association. Created in 1992, the institution has the mission of documenting the region’s evolution and promoting discussion about the subject. McLaughlin is the author of many books and articles about the history of Silicon Valley and the hub’s importance to the evolution of global technology, and he has also directed more than 10 documentaries about the region’s entrepreneurs, including Steve Jobs: Secrets of Life.
Photo: Courtesy of the Silicon Valley Historical Association
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research institutions, scientific centers and innovative companies to develop knowledge and stimulate new technologies. In my opinion, hubs (or think tanks, as I like to call them), besides inspiring entrepreneurship among students, ensure that companies have privileged access to labs, highly qualified professionals, cutting-edge research and new business opportunities.
Guedes: We knew that the UFRJ hub would accelerate technological development. We had no doubt about that. The presence of a company of Petrobras’ size would attract companies from the supply chain, and the gathering together of these enterprises in a technology park would naturally develop technical and scientific knowledge at a faster pace.
CONTEMPORARY RENAISSANCE PMGC: Did entrepreneurs already have an idea that hubs would accelerate society’s scientific and technological development in this way?
THE GOLD RUSH PMGC: To be an entrepreneur, you need someone to buy your idea. Was attracting investors hard?
McLaughlin: The introduction of new technologies paved the way for revolutionary social changes. In the mid-1980s, I was writing a novel with a typewriter, and a friend sold me an old Mac Plus. That machine changed my work dynamic. I became extremely immersed in investigating the effects of new forms of communication on civilization. I saw young people starting up businesses without any money; recent graduates, such as Jobs and Nolan Bushnell, from Atari, who would turn into multi-millionaires. It was a kind of contemporary renaissance, imbued with the spirit of an ethos of innovation. I started to record these changes in documentaries and I later founded the Silicon Valley Historical Association.
McLaughlin: In Silicon Valley, people were driven by ethos and focused on enterprise. I had lived in other places, in Oregon and San Diego, and it wasn’t like this. When I presented a business idea, the response I always received was: “Where has anyone already done this before?” Nobody demonstrated interest in innovating. However, the innovation ethos in the Valley infected everyone. It was hard to explain this to someone in the state of Kansas, for example, but in Silicon Valley there was always someone who thought: “Let’s do it differently.” The first few million dollars attracted investors from across the planet. You would go into a diner and the manager would say he was only working there to save up money to set up a dotcom company, because many people were
MAURÍCIO GUEDES WAS BORN IN RIO DE JANEIRO IN 1953. He has an undergraduate degree in production engineering and a master’s in energy planning. In 2003 he was one of the founders of the UFRJ Technology Park in Rio de Janeiro, of which he is currently director. He has worked at important Brazilian academic and scientific institutions, including the Technology Projects, Research and Studies Coordination Foundation (Coppetec), the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPQ) and the Brazilian government’s Industrial Technology.
Photo: Francisco de Souza
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“THE PRESENCE OF CAPITAL AND THE SHARING OF IDEAS CREATE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES THAT YOU DON’T FIND OUTSIDE AN ENVIRONMENT LIKE THIS,” SAYS MCLAUGHLIN —
DIALOGUES
getting rich quickly and any idea would be financed by venture capital. Guedes: Petrobras has been the major driver of the UFRJ Technology Park. Through an enterprising vision in the 1960s, the company decided to set up its Research Center (Cenpes) near the UFRJ campus to conduct research and develop projects with the university. The partnership succeeded in overcoming the company’s historic challenges, such as in the area of deepwater exploration. It was an invitation
for other private and public sector players in society. The park was opened with an incubator, six companies and a laboratory, to promote science and technology. Today there are more than 40 companies, including small, medium and large ones, as well as startups, involving total investment of over R$1 billion (around US$440 million) as of 2013. Major global players in the oil and gas sector are moving to the park. General Electric, for example, decided to set up its fifth biggest industrial complex in the world here.
PMGC: Does the choice of a hub’s location define its vocation and capacity to attract more investments? McLaughlin: Ethos is more important than location. And, in Silicon Valley, it’s hard to codify. Only a disaster, world war or global epidemic would be capable of destroying this, because it’s an idea that continues to replicate itself. There are many projects that came out of there and didn’t go anywhere, but the ones that succeeded inspired an infinite number of others. Entrepreneurs who
UFRJ Technology Park – key figures • Around US$440 million
in investment over 10 years
• 12 major companies
mostly in the oil and gas sector, including Halliburton, Schlumberger, FMC Technologies, and Baker Hughes
• • • •
Nine small companies 22 startups Four UFRJ laboratories 3,000 researchers
work at the companies located at the Technology Park
Source: UFRJ Technology Park
The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro Technology Park, established in 2003, covers an area of 350,000 m² Photo: Genilson Araújo / UFRJ Technology Park
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are attracted to Silicon Valley, or who grew up here, have a common goal. In the more than 150 interviews I have conducted for the Silicon Valley Historical Association and for my books, few company founders were focused on making money. The majority, like Steve Jobs, were determined to have a positive impact on civilization through technology. Money was a consequence of a good entrepreneurial idea.
Guedes: The UFRJ Technology Park has been driven by two fundamental factors: the presence of an anchor company, Petrobras; and the discovery of the pre-salt oil layer, announced in 2007. Another important point is the creativity of Brazilians. We are recognized internationally for our creative capacity. For any technology park to be successful, it must have an affinity with the location’s regional, academic and economic vocations. In my view, the main social result of the park’s activities is the creation of new businesses and new companies, services and products driven by technological innovation and scientific development. And investments are increasing with the success of projects.
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RISKS AND CHALLENGES PMGC: In 2001, the bursting of the dotcom bubble provoked a retraction of investments and a rethink about the model of hubs. Is entrepreneurship still very conditional upon capital? McLaughlin: At the height of the internet bubble (1990), anybody with an MBA and a minimally decent idea could raise capital from investors to develop projects. There was excessive optimism. Then the bubble burst in 2001 and the investments dried up. I had neighbors with US$30-million businesses, and the following day they were worth US$2 million. The major innovations remained, however. What happened is that investors became much more selective.
Silicon Valley – key figures • US$12.125 billion
of investments in 2013
• 1,826 tech companies
in 2013, including mega-corporations Apple, Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter
• 46.9% of the patents
filed in the United States come from Silicon Valley
• 1.42 million
people work in the Valley
Source: Silicon Valley Index
Silicon Valley extends for 3,000 km² in the state of California, encompassing several cities such as Palo Alto and Santa Clara Photo: Courtesy of the Silicon Valley Historical Association
DIALOGUES
“IN THE VALLEY, PEOPLE WERE FOCUSED ON ENTERPRISE,” SAYS MCLAUGHLIN —
1. Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, founders of Apple 2. Coppe LAMCE Engineering Computational Methods Laboratory, building at the UFRJ Technology Park 3. Chip created by Intel in 1978 4. One of the first computer keyboards 5. The “Traitorous Eight,” the group of eight engineers who founded Fairchild Semiconductor, a company that produced the first commercially available integrated circuit
1. Photo: Courtesy of the Silicon Valley Historical Association
As a consequence, we saw another significant change: the ideas needed to have a solid basis and an attractive and realistic plan for making money. In 2008, the American recession promoted further reflection about the model of hubs, but innovative companies such as Google, Apple and Facebook adapted. In a dynamic society like the information society, new ideas will always arise and somebody will invest in them. Guedes: One of the challenges of a hub is to maintain always the core of innovation. However, these spaces need to attract a large number of small and medium companies, which depend on investors to develop, and large companies, which promote a synergistic environment that stimulates creativity. In 2003, we had already witnessed the curve of dotcom companies. Making a comparison with Silicon Valley, we need to develop further a culture of risk-taking, something that is still recent in Brazil. Aversion to risk is a factor that slows down the process of innovation, but I don’t see it as a limit. We are advancing in terms of investment lines with the support of BNDES, Brazil’s national development bank, as well as private funds and the Financier of Studies and Projects (Finep), and we are increasingly attracting venture capital investors.
2. Photo: UFRJ Technology Park
MISTAKES ALONG THE WAY PMGC: Hubs haven’t been exclusively successful. There are cases of mistakes made along the way. Is this a risk in entrepreneurship? McLaughlin: Every entrepreneurial idea poses risks, but you need to look years ahead, perhaps centuries. Xerox was making billions of dollars selling photocopiers and, above all, the chemical materials needed to make copies. It had a research complex in Palo Alto. They had an Ethernet [interconnection architecture for local networks] within the company and they were already sending emails to each other. However, Xerox was afraid that the popularization of these technologies would compete with their photocopiers. John Warnock and Charles Geschke, who worked there, became frustrated and left the company because they saw that incredible technology, but the focus was elsewhere. They left and founded Adobe. HewlettPackard thought that electronic games on wristwatches were the future. This idea didn’t go anywhere and the company shelved the project and moved on. Guedes: Entrepreneurship involves taking on risks. Preventing them is one of the foundations of the project management matrix. In 10 years, we have more successful than unsuccessful stories. Last year, Petrobras received a Technological Innovation Award from the National Oil, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP), in recognition of its development of the Water-Oil Subsea Separation System
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installed in Marlim Field in Campos Basin, off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. The prototype of this technology was developed by Petrobras and FMC Technologies, one of the companies in the complex. We have various examples of new products and services being created, especially in the ambit of startups. One of them is Oil Finder, a piece of mathematical modeling software that tracks oil seepages on the seabed. These projects represent significant advances for the oil and gas industry. THE FUTURE PMGC: In recent months, some theorists have said that Silicon Valley is going through a new renaissance and facing the threat of the creation of other models of technological development. Does the social dynamic demand continually rethinking the role of hubs? McLaughlin: Now it looks like the wheel has turned around once more. I recently talked to a group of Scottish people who have been trying to set up a Silicon Valley between Glasgow and Edinburgh for years. They look for electrical engineers in Scottish universities, offer money for them to start companies… They find good students, with good track records and with the hope to build a new Google, a new Apple or a new Facebook, but they are afraid of taking risks. In Tel Aviv, one of the most successful peers of Silicon Valley, they have made progress based on this entrepreneurial culture. I think that
3.
Guedes: The future of the technology park is very promising. It is expanding Brazil’s position as a major technology developer. In fact, we are already recognized for our success in oil and gas exploration and production and for our reserves. Obviously, the coming years will generate changes, and some will require us to adapt, but many will be driven by us.
this century’s social dynamic will demand a continuous rethinking, but experience already proves that the hub is a successful model. The inspiration is still that of a young developer who creates an app like WhatsApp and sells it for US$16 billion to another technology giant, Facebook. Guedes: I don’t see threats, but rather evolution. A technology park must be a creative location, stimulating knowledge and bringing together different players. It’s a think tank for the development of a local vocation. Our experience has demonstrated this. The major players in oil and gas have attracted many researchers and professionals from throughout the world. It’s something that tends only to grow. Our park is home to the research centers of at least 12 major companies, four UFRJ laboratories, nine small companies, and 22 startups located in the university incubator. Around 3,000 researchers work at companies in the complex. We need more researchers and they will come.
“A TECHNOLOGY PARK MUST BE A CREATIVE PLACE, STIMULATING KNOWLEDGE AND BRINGING TOGETHER DIFFERENT PLAYERS,” SAYS GUEDES —
PMGC: What can you predict about the future of hubs? McLaughlin: In any activity, timing and opportunity are absolutely crucial. Unfortunately, these factors do not depend on us at all. What we can do is be in the right place at the right time, with the right tools. I don’t have the slightest doubt that more incredible things are yet to emerge from Silicon Valley, which will change the world for the next 100 years.
4.
Photos: Courtesy of the Silicon Valley Historical Association
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ALL OVER
A new energy index in Davos
governments and leaders in the sector to identify and prioritize areas that need to be optimized, adopting the index as a management standard,” said Arthur Hanna, Energy Industry Managing Director at Accenture, during a panel discussion entitled “The Energy Context.”
T
hree panel discussions about the subject of energy took place at the 17th edition of the World Economic Forum (WEF), which was held from January 22 to 25 in Davos, Switzerland. One of the highlights of this year’s forum was the presentation, in the presence of heads of state, business people and opinion leaders, of The Global Energy Architecture Performance Index Report 2014, produced by the WEF’s energy commission and consultancy Accenture.
In this document, specialists propose a new energy efficiency index produced through analysis of the present global system, based on energy demand and supply and the corresponding environmental impacts in 124 countries. “One of the biggest challenges for countries is balancing economic growth and sustainability. We now have a very complex global energy architecture, with different stages of economic development, available energy resources and consumption cultures. Our purpose is to reorganize this architecture, helping
The first stage of the study, which took three years to complete, required developing a methodology to formulate indicators to evaluate and rank the performance of countries. “We came to the conclusion that we should base the index on three key dimensions, which we call the energy triangle. In every country, we evaluated economic growth and development, the production and consumption of sustainable, secure energy, and universal access to it. In the second stage, we defined parameters to measure how the energy structure of a country can add to, or subtract from, the economy’s value, the
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THE AIM IS TO REORGANIZE THE GLOBAL ENERGY ARCHITECTURE, ADOPTING THE INDEX AS A MANAGEMENT STANDARD — environmental impact of energy supply versus consumption, and prospects for secure access to new sources. This made it possible to define economic and environmental indicators such as the quantity of carbon dioxide emitted by each country’s energy industry and the price of biofuels in each market,” said Roberto Bocca, Energy Director at the World Economic Forum.
The energy efficiency index also considered grouping countries into blocks – North America, the European Union, the Middle East and North Africa, and the BRICS. The report identified the European Union and Nordic countries as having the highest scores for their relationship between economic development and low carbon emissions. Among the BRICS countries,
Brazil stands out, with the lowest carbon emissions due to its largely hydro-based power generation system. However, the report states that even the best ranking countries – Norway, New Zealand, France, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Spain and Latvia – are far from having balanced energy systems.
The panel about the global energy context was presented at the 2014 World Economic Forum in Davos
Photo: Remy Steinegger / Courtesy of the WEF in Davos
ALL OVER
The event was attended by government leaders, business people and opinion leaders from more than 120 countries
THE AVERAGE PERFORMANCE OF THE COUNTRIES — Reference: North America Middle East and North Africa
European Union Brics
44 44 54
(H er
54
44 53
63
55
72
on ati ific r t c e Ele rat
68 61
35
64 63 51
ts
60 57
81
57
61
50 42
l ue r fo ars
32
19
Al nuc terna l t e a r e ive a ne nd rg y
16
87 90 81 83 84 80 78 61 55
40
38 35
101 109 n/a 110 95 96
77
73 64 69
1
96
Fuel exp or
ity of Qual supply y tricit c e l e
65
56
31
69 66
87
6567
29
65
75
ricity prices Elect ustry for ind
67
72
67
14
sel ion Die stort di ice Pr
35
40
38 44
Su p Pr er G ice dis asol to in rt i
on
30
36
Fuel imp ort s
-
6
Energy security & access
e
Percent population age of us fuels for ing solid cooki Ele ng ctr im ic en po rts erg y
tion ifica rt ers Div f impo arts o terp dex) n in cou ndahl rfi He ( y 5 it rs S ex) ve PE d Di f T hl in o da fin
a pit /ca 2 NO
ita /cap CH 4
PM1 0
CO2/kWh
A e ve pa con rag ss o e e ng my f er c
THE TEN MOST EFFICIENT COUNTRIES THE BRICS Rank 1º Norway 2º New Zealand 3º France 4º Sweden 5º Switzerland
Score 0.75 0.73 0.72 0.72 0.72
Rank 6º Denmark 7º Colombia 8º Spain 9º Costa Rica 10º Latvia
Photos: EFE
Score 0.71 0.70 0.67 0.67 0.66
Rank
Score
1º Brazil
0.64
2º Russian Federation 0.62 3º South Africa 4º India 5º China
SOURCE: The Global Energy Architecture Performance Index Report 2014. The World Economic Forum and Accenture. © 2013
0.54 0.48 0.45
According to Bocca and Hanna, Davos attendees gave a positive reception to the new index. The next step involves producing a work schedule with representatives of governments and large energy companies in order to guide investments jointly, conduct analyses, define strategies and assess the efficiency of actions. “We can move closer to a new global energy configuration and an effective transition, redesigning and reorienting ourselves toward a new sustainable global architecture with secure, universal access for all countries,” said the specialists.
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New technological challenge Petrobras is back on the tracks of Formula 1, as a technical partner of Williams Martini Racing. In February, the company signed a technology partnership contract with the team, marking the resumption of collaboration between the companies, which began in 1998 and lasted 11 years, during which time the F1 team used Petrobras fuels. This time, Petrobras and Williams Martini Racing will work together with the team’s engine supplier to develop fuels and lubricants, which may be used by the team in the 2015 season. In 2014, Petrobras’ logo is displayed on the side of the Williams FW36 and on the team’s clothing and surroundings. This year, Brazilian racing driver Felipe Massa and Finnish Valtteri Bottas represent Williams Martini Racing. The team’s Deputy Team Principal and Commercial Director, Claire Williams, who signed the contract at Petrobras’ head office in Rio de Janeiro, emphasized the partnership’s importance: “When we were looking at the fuel supplier, of course we wanted to partner with the best, and Petrobras is one of the best fuel companies in the world. We know that they will deliver a really strong product for us to make our cars go faster. And we are also looking forward to help advance their product as well, so the consumers of their products in Brazil can benefit.” Since 2009, the company has also been sponsoring and lending its name to the Petrobras Brazilian Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Photo: Antonio Milena / Petrobras Image Bank
Graça Foster, CEO of Petrobras, and Claire Williams, Deputy Team Principal and Commercial Director, Williams
Networking events RIO OIL & GAS
Held every two years, the Rio Oil & Gas Expo and Conference – the leading oil and gas event in Latin America – will take place in Rio de Janeiro from September 15 to 18. Since its first edition in 1982, the event has helped to strengthen Rio de Janeiro’s status as Brazil’s “oil capital,” given that the state accounts for 80% of the oil and 50% of the natural gas produced in the country. In addition to Petrobras’ stand, representatives of the company will be participating in a series of debates, forums, special sessions and roundtable discussions about the sector’s current circumstances and global prospects. You can find the event’s program at www.riooilgas.com.br.
SAN FRANCISCO MONEY SHOW
From August 21 to 23, leading finance specialists will talk about their strategies for making the highest possible returns in the stock market. The experts will provide in-depth information about the financial markets, shares and highperformance sectors. In addition, dozens of companies will send representatives to present their views and talk with the public. The event will be held at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square. For more information, visit www.moneyshow.com.
ENERGY GEEK
Beating the clock Find out how Petrobras created a cost reduction program that accelerated its pre-salt production schedule and generated savings of US$344 million in 2013
Photo: Thinkstock / Petrobras Image Bank
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THE CHALLENGES Petrobras’ Exploration and Production (E&P) schedule accelerated with the discovery of pre-salt in 2006. The large volumes of oil found, which could more than double the company’s reserves, had given Petrobras a major challenge: to drill more wells in less time. In the following years, demand for drilling rigs, services and projects increased rapidly, and the trend is for continuous growth – by 2020, Petrobras plans to more than double its output, to 4.2 million barrels of oil per day. The number of offshore wells drilled per year, which between 2007 and 2011 was 87 on average, should reach 133 by 2016. Meanwhile, the fleet of drilling rigs expanded by 150% between 2003 and 2013, from 28 to 70 units. The large portfolio of wells, the quantity of necessary equipment and exploratory challenges were factors that resulted, in 2013, in circumstances of high well construction costs, representing 32% (US$75 billion) of all the investment foreseen in the company’s Business and Management Plan at the time (20132017), and 51% of all investment in E&P in Brazil. “In the pre-salt, the daily cost of drilling rigs reached US$600,000. In Campos Basin, the cost was US$300,000. While the wells in Campos Basin took 90 days to be drilled, those in the pre-salt needed 200. And this spending represented 50% of the entire investment in a project,” explains Renato Pinheiro, General Manager of Well Construction and Maintenance / Development and Production 1, in Petrobras’ E&P area.
CREATION OF WELL COST REDUCTION PROGRAM Due to these circumstances, Petrobras launched the Well Cost Reduction Program (PRC-Poço) in May 2013. Currently, the program’s target is to cut around US$6.3 billion from well construction costs by 2018. This will be take place through 23 initiatives, divided into three major guidelines: reduction of unit costs; optimization of project scopes; and productivity gains. The first guideline is directly related to reducing the sums paid, above all for drilling rigs, by optimizing vessels and hiring simpler units. The second – optimization of project scopes – involves information analysis and selection
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AROUND 80% OF THE COST REDUCTION CAME FROM OPTIMIZING THE PRE-SALT WELLS, AND THE OTHER 20% FROM POST-SALT PROJECTS — Drilling platform SS-69 operating in Lula field, Santos Basin
Photo: Manuel Aguiar / GALP/ Petrobras Image Bank
ENERGY GEEK
PRE-SALT WELL TECHNOLOGY —
The Well Cost Reduction Program has three main guidelines: reducing the amounts paid, especially for drilling rigs, by optimizing vessels and chartering simpler units; optimizing the scope of projects, which involves processes for analyzing and selecting information to make data acquisition more objective and projects simpler; and productivity gains, using a methodology to make better use of experience acquired, such as the repetition of successful cases of well drilling and completion.
DRILLING TOWER
SEMI-SUBMERSIBLE DRILLING RIG Drills and completes oshore oil wells
SUPPORT BOAT
SUPPORT COLUMNS Provide stability
DRILLING RISER Links the well on the seabed with the drilling rig OCEAN
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ALT POST-S AYER SALT L layer
es r Irregulathickness rang,000 meters 2 e d s who n 1,000 an betwee s, teristic ory model, ER t t LT LAY l charac PRE-SA s geologica new explora ore resistan it a m o f t o re e a t re r u t u a a D d press gies th s the st it markding technolo peratures an m n e a t dem sion, high to corro
VERTICAL WELL Production column, responsible for taking oil from reservoirs to a Wet Christmas Tree
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processes to make data acquisition more objective and projects simpler. The third, related to productivity gains, uses a methodology to make better use of experience acquired, such as the repetition of successful cases of well drilling and completion.
FLOATING PRODUCTION, STORAGE AND OFFLOADING UNIT (FPSO) Receives output from wells, stores oil, and exports oil and gas
“One of the important points of PRCPoço has been the creation of an experience curve methodology to enable the transfer of lessons learned to E&P projects. We use industry concepts and adapt them to pre-salt. As there are a large number of wells in ultra-deep waters, the new method was applied to the drilling process and then expanded to the subsea area, which entails linking up wells and connections,” says Pinheiro.
DRILLSHIP Drills and completes offshore oil wells
SUPPORT BOAT
DRILLING TOWER
LESS TIME, GREATER SAVINGS Petrobras’ schedule began to accelerate. “The pre-salt wells in the first project in the Lula field took an average of 205 days to be drilled and completed, whereas in another two projects – one in the Sapinhoá field and the other also in Lula – our projection takes us to just 163 days on average, with a downward bias,” explains Pinheiro. In January of this year, Petrobras executed well SPH5, in the Sapinhoá field, in a mere 109 days, including drilling and completion – achieving a new record. This well is located in Santos Basin, with a water depth of 2,126 meters and a total depth of 5,334 meters.
PRODUCTION/INJECTION RISERS Connect wells to an FPSO DRILLING RISER Links the well on the seabed with the drilling rig WET CHRISTMAS TREE
HORIZONTAL WELL Increases a reservoir’s area of exposure to a well
BOP – Blowout Preventer 1- System of control valves to guarantee safe well operations 2- It controls well flow during drilling work 3- The equipment can weigh up to 400 metric tons and extend 15 meters in height
SOURCE: Petrobras
From May to December 2013, the savings generated by PRC-Poço amounted to US$344 million, 11% higher than planned for the period (US$310 million). “Around 80% of this reduction resulted from optimizing pre-salt wells, and the other 20% came from post-salt projects,” says Pinheiro. “Our aim is to deliver cheaper wells, with quality, safety and a shorter construction time, in an attempt to accelerate delivery and so improve the company’s production curve,” he says.
ENERGY GEEK
IN JANUARY 2014, PETROBRAS EXECUTED WELL SPH-5 IN JUST 109 DAYS, SETTING A NEW RECORD — ENTERPRISING SOLUTIONS The program’s effects have only been possible because of the team’s enterprising work and the unique nature of the set of solutions implemented, such as the use of specialist vessels and significant engineering work. “The lessons learned from previous wells and the intensive use of engineering enabled a reduction in the number of phases, from four to three, as well as cheaper well completion. This model is in the implementation phase. As each day costs around US$1 million, including the drilling rig, materials and services, each day saved is very worthwhile. Significant sums are involved,” says Pinheiro.
The implementation of Pronova – an online system for monitoring the operations of all active drilling rigs – also contributed to these results. Shift parameters and tasks are monitored to assess the average performance of each area, with the aim of creating an operational standard for drilling rigs and thereby enhancing the drilling process. Pronova is associated with Petrobras’ coaching program – currently being implemented – which will provide for a team to work at units to conduct on-site monitoring of all working group activities and operations. The program is now being tested on 25 drilling rigs and it will be reproduced throughout the fleet. INTEGRATION OF TEAMS In PRC-Poço, partnership with other areas is also crucial. The Logistics area, for example, is fundamental to guaranteeing the availability of inputs needed for drilling and completion in the right timeframe, avoiding inefficiency in
The E&P area requested the Petrobras University to create a training program for well drilling and completion designers
Photo: Bruno Veiga / Petrobras Image Bank
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Focus on training The growth in the number of offshore drilling rigs and the need for improvements to projects led the E&P area to ask the Petrobras University to create a training program aimed at well drilling and completion designers. Besides meeting a shortfall in the supply of specialists in this field, the four-month program is also designed to familiarize professionals with new technologies and adjustments implemented in operations, and to expand interaction with different areas, such as geology, reservoirs, elevation, production operations, and equipment.
Photo: Tais Peyneau / Petrobras Image Bank
Photo: Geraldo Falcão / Petrobras Image Bank
Created in 2007, the course had trained 121 drilling designers and 57 completion designers by 2013. One of the program’s results was the development of the True One Trip (TOT) project, aimed at reducing the completion time for injection wells. The program’s success has led the Petrobras University to create a number of similar courses, which are planned to take place in 2014 and 2015.
the well construction process. The area coordinates services and liaison for all drilling rigs, production platforms, ports and the cargo unitization (packaging) process – activities that have been expanding in line with the growth of operations in the pre-salt area. “Well construction is not a task for a single area; it’s an activity that involves the whole internal chain. The process entails defining the scope in
the reservoir area and having a good geological model to underpin the drilling plan. In addition, the procurement area needs to hire and negotiate with suppliers. It also depends on the drilling schedule, given that there are more than 100 wells to drill per year. In other words, it’s a combination of many factors. PRCPoço is the result of joint work, not just work by the wells team,” says Pinheiro. At the moment, 400 professionals are involved in the program.
Petrobras’ aim is to deliver cheaper wells, with quality, safety and a shorter construction time
PRISMA
Radical Change Existenz Maximum
&
by Francesco Morace —
R
adical Change – the enormous global change taking place around the world – is today visible to all. Companies must now learn to strategically navigate according to the directions of the technological and social changes that are making this global change inevitable. A change that is affecting all generations and social classes: Brazil, in this sense, becomes a sort of open-air laboratory.
PROFILE Sociologist, writer and journalist, Francesco Morace has been working for over 30 years in the sociological and market research field and is the president of Future Concept Lab. He teaches at Domus Academy and at Politecnico in Milan and, as a strategic consultant for various Italian and foreign companies, he has held courses and seminars in 25 countries. He is the author of more than 20 books and is a regular columnist for Adv, Interni, Mark Up and other specialised international magazines and journals. Follow Francesco on Twitter: @francescomorace Learn more about Francesco Morace and the Future Concept Lab at www.futureconceptlab.com
Brazilian managers and creative’s will have to rely less and less on the hundreds of trends emerging every day from the web and will instead need to focus more strategically on the future of their businesses by adopting methods for addressing/responding to the Radical Change in act, and in accordance with the paradigms of the future: sustainability, sharing, happy experiences, uniqueness. These are the values that the younger generations are geared towards today.
The new scenario of individual existence in a period of radical change is marked by a “do not settle” mentality, and is formed in those integrated territories, between the real and virtual, that shape society today, as is happening in Brazil. This scenario marks an unexpected acceleration of the new direction of Existenz Maximum: a direction that constitutes that the greatest satisfaction comes from the intensity of vital ideas, which are cost-free and easy to share. For example, it’s in this dimension that the notion of Freemium has attained success; a free experience that then turns into a business model offering consumer’s privileged premium experiences which are of both high-cost and value. Such as in music world: free file sharing and then live concerts, which are sometimes very expensive to attend. This is a new form of accessibility and democracy: everything immediately available to everyone, no progressivity. The daily
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behaviors of the consum-authors are therefore moving increasingly closer to what were once the most daring experiments of the twentieth-century avant-garde: exploring the world of social networks, now inhabited by billions of people, is equivalent to a trip into the world of our dreams; with aesthetics, languages, behaviors and opportunities that sometimes exceed even the wild imaginations of Magritte or Max Ernst. In this way and at no cost, the contrast between niche and mainstream fades away, and smart cities are met by personal eccentricities. This is because new technologies allow for a spontaneous explosion of creative uniqueness and maximum intensity of experiences in everyday life: people are learning to fill the space that the Web offers to them with contents related to their personal talents and biographical history, then to be transferred into their real lives, in their relationships and in their work, through the ubiquity of the social networks. The consumauthors “new realism� affect the opportunities in life that are re-interpreted to their maximum potential, in a free and creative way, and in the future Brazilians could become the champions of the Existenz Maximum, not only through the samba, the Bossa Nova, football and carnival, but also with their brands and products.
OVER THE SEAS
A dive into the mystery of the Brazilian Atlantis
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A Japanese-Brazilian scientific expedition in the Atlantic Ocean is investigating the Rio Grande Elevation, a giant underwater plateau in international waters. The research in the region, nicknamed the Brazilian Atlantis, and in nearby areas, may help to clarify a number of episodes in the planet’s history, change maritime boundaries and influence the production of mineral resources
THE MYTHOLOGY OF ATLANTIS In the writings of Greek philosopher Plato, Atlantis was a rich and legendary island, inhabited by a civilization that conquered many parts of Western Europe and Africa around 9,600 years before Christ. However, following an unsuccessful attempt to invade Athens, Atlantis’ people were punished by the gods, with the island sinking into the ocean in a single day and night of calamities. In 2013, a Japanese-Brazilian oceanographic expedition to the Rio Grande Elevation – a giant underwater plateau in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, located around 1,500 kilometers off the southern coast of Brazil – rekindled the mythological dream of the lost archipelago to Japanese and Brazilian researchers, who nicknamed the region the “Brazilian Atlantis.” The hypothesis is that the plateau was part of a continent but it sank after South America and Africa separated, 130 million years ago. The expedition, which began at the African coast and proceeded toward Brazil, collected geological information in various points of the Atlantic Ocean. These clues may help to clarify the continent rupture process, which gave rise to the current formation of the
oceans. The results of the studies – which also encompassed marine life in extreme environments – may also lead to an expansion in Brazil’s marine scientific preeminence, provide important information for the investigation of oil and gas, and make the Elevation an additional source of resources for the country. The highlights of the expedition were recorded in a logbook exclusively for Petrobras Magazine Global Connections. FROM THE ROCKS TO THE SEA The 33 years of geologist Adolpho Augustin, a researcher at the Center of Excellence for Research and Innovation in Oil, Mineral Resources and Carbon Storage (Cepac) at the Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), reveal an extensive professional trajectory for someone of his age. In the last three and a half years, Augustin has been working on marine research for projects in partnership with Petrobras. He has participated in various ocean missions and voyages, but he has always remained on the ship and, at most, looked into the depths using a camera installed on a diving robot.
Nor were ocean expeditions new to Fernando Freire, a 52-year-old experienced geologist who works at the Petrobras Research Center (Cenpes), in Rio de Janeiro. He was also familiar with Japanese researchers, having done his PhD in Japan, and he has a lot of experience using remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). The two geologists participated in the Iatá-Piuna expedition – the name given to the Brazilian stage of the “QUELLE 2013 – Quest for the Limit of Life” international oceanographic project. This global initiative, led by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), is looking for life forms in extreme sea environments across the world with the help of the manned submersible vehicle Shinkai 6500, which is capable of plunging to a depth of 6,500 meters. Augustin and Freire were recommended by Adriano Viana, a senior geologist at Petrobras, aged 54, with 32 years of professional experience, who also works at Cenpes. The company had been invited to participate as a consultant to the expedition by the Brazilian government due to its expertise in deep waters in Brazil. Viana had already worked with the Japanese, who regularly consult Petrobras because of its experience in drilling through salt.
OVER THE SEAS
International technological cooperation Shinkai’s expedition was the result of a technical cooperation agreement between the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Brazil’s Science, Technology & Innovation and Foreign Relations Ministries, CPRM, the USP Oceanographic Institute, the Itajaí Valley University and the Federal University of Espírito Santo. Petrobras participated as a consultant. According to CPRM’s Roberto Ventura, Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Relations decided to participate in the international project to take the country scientifically out to the ocean – not only for fishing and tourism purposes, but also for the scientific and economic sovereignty of the resources present. “The aim of the program is to produce geological information about Brazilian territory, including the legal continental shelf and adjacent ocean areas, and to expand knowledge of mineral resources in order to stimulate investment in mineral research and production,” explains Ventura. Research into the rocks found during the expedition to the Elevation is still under way, but it is already known that they are rich in iron, manganese and cobalt. The idea is to harness these mineral resources in future.
Photo: courtesy of geologist Fernando Freire
PLANNING THE MISSION The scientific investigation unfolded with the idea of taking the manned submersible – which would initially only descend in shallow areas – to dive thousands of kilometers off the coast to analyze the Rio Grande Elevation, the São Paulo Ridge and the São Paulo Plateau. According to the expedition’s initial plan, Shinkai 6500 would operate in Brazil based on recommendations from researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP), pointing to the presence of some interesting marine life forms for the project in relatively shallow areas. However, when they analyzed Shinkai 6500’s potential, Petrobras and the Brazilian Geological Service (also known as the Mineral Resource Research Company, or CPRM) proposed using it for a much more extensive investigation, in areas of great scientific interest. The Rio Grande Elevation – located off the coast of the southern Brazilian states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul – has been arousing the curiosity of scientists for decades. Interest in it was redoubled when CPRM discovered, while dredging the region two years ago, that some rocks presented continental characteristics and not just volcanic ones, as had been assumed. The geologists’ research indicated that the material found on the Elevation was related to other typical continental materials, and it might
be a piece that broke away in the process of the separation between South America and Africa. At Petrobras, the main aim of the research was to collect evidence to study aspects of the evolution of the Brazilian margin. “Our basins were formed during this period, and understanding the process is very relevant to oil and gas activities. Seeing the extent of the Brazilian continental margin further out to sea and knowing what type of material exists there would help to calibrate the geological evolution models that we are developing, pointing to some research areas to make it possible to better dimension the oil potential of these areas,” explains Viana. ”The term Brazilian Atlantis, despite its basis in mythology, associating it with Plato’s legendary account, was coined merely as an analogy to that legend. The expedition’s approach, however, is very scientific. Our researchers embarked on the mission, not only to seek new forms of extremophile life, but also to investigate the existence of this possible lost continent and its potential for mineral reserves,” says Viana.
To the right, Cenpes geologist Fernando Freire; below, one of the robotic arms of submarine Shinkai 6500
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“IF I COULD GO BACK, I WOULD. I AM PROUD TO HAVE THIS FEAT ON MY RESUME,” SAYS FERNANDO FREIRE —
Photo: Francisco de Souza
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OVER THE SEAS
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Photo: Francisco de Souza
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Photo: courtesy of geologist Fernando Freire
Photo: courtesy of geologist Fernando Freire
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THE EXPEDITION COLLECTED EVIDENCE THAT COULD HELP TO CLARIFY THE CONTINENT RUPTURE PROCESS AND PROVIDE INFORMATION FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF OIL AND GAS — THE START OF THE EXPEDITION Petrobras had the right to two places – one for each stage of the voyage. For the stretch between Cape Town and Rio de Janeiro, the place was given to PUCRS – an institution that maintains close scientific collaboration with the company, represented in the mission by Augustin, who already had extensive experience on marine research operations, including expeditions outside Brazil, in Egypt. The aim of the first stage (or leg, as it was called) was to understand certain evolutionary aspects related to the breakup of the Gondwana supercontinent – formed of Africa, South America, Antarctica, Australia, Madagascar and India in the Jurassic period, 200 million years ago, and that separated 130 million years ago, giving rise to the South Atlantic.
The interaction between scientists intensified during the crossing. Augustin got to know his Japanese and Brazilian colleagues, with whom he worked day and night, especially due to the close proximity of the first dives and the preparations finally to board in Shinkai 6500. “Everyone was experienced in the field; they had already boarded. Most of them were biologists. There were two geologists – CPRM’s Eugênio Frazão and I. There was also a Japanese biologist, who was the coordinator of the first leg,” explains Augustin.
1. Petrobras employee Adriano Viana was one of the expedition’s consultants 2. The manned submersible vehicle Shinkai 6500 can dive to a depth of 6,500 meters 3. Team of geologists and biologists who participated in the first stage of the expedition in waters off the coast of Brazil 4. Fernando Freire participated in the second leg of the mission
During the leg, nine dives in all were made on the Rio Grande Elevation and São Paulo Ridge – a chain of mountains closer to the coast. Augustin’s dive took place on March 25, 2013. Due to the weather, he did not descend to the Elevation, but rather to the Ridge, to the north.
The expedition left Cape Town, in South Africa, where Augustin boarded the Japanese oceanographic ship Yokosuka, Shinkai 6500’s base, for a 24-day voyage that would cross the Atlantic to the city of Rio de Janeiro. “Throughout the time we were sailing, we had workshops to schedule our work, to see what each person would do during their dives, to learn. Those who dive have to do everything, because there was only one researcher and two pilots in the submersible. The researcher has to decide what to collect, when to collect it, and how,” explains Augustin.
4.
Photo: courtesy of geologist Fernando Freire
OVER THE SEAS
“DURING THE DIVE, THE RESEARCHER HAS TO DECIDE WHAT TO COLLECT, WHEN AND HOW,” SAYS ADOLPHO —
Photo: Francisco de Souza
Adolpho Augustin embarked on Japanese ship Yokosuka for a 24-day voyage that crossed the Atlantic Ocean
“There was a storm and we had to make a diversion in order to return later and do all the dives,” he recounts. The moments before he entered the submersible bring back tense memories to Augustin’s mind. “Before leaving the ship, they gave the basic instructions on board Shinkai and they showed us the equipment, because the instructions are in Japanese. If everything stops, you press these two buttons. If nothing happens, press these two. At that time, I thought: what have I got myself into?!
This was two days before my dive, when the penny dropped,” he says. Inside the submersible, the tasks were shared between the pilot, who commanded the vehicle and collected the materials using mechanical arms, the co-pilot, responsible for the navigation and location of Shinkai, and the researcher crew member. “I was only afraid when we closed the submersible and started to put on the oxygen (O2) equipment on board. Nothing goes out. The O2 leaves the cylinder and the lithium hydroxide absorbs the carbon dioxide (CO2) inside the same sphere. There are CO2 and O2 monitors. One number started to increase and I felt scared! I asked about it and they said it was nothing. You are in a closed environment, three of you,
and it’s easy to faint (because of the CO2). However, it all went very smoothly. They’ve been doing this for a long time,” Augustin says. The collaboration was continuous because the course taken in a dive cannot be repeated afterward. In addition, if the sea is too rough on the day a researcher is scheduled to dive, he loses his turn. “Everyone researches for everyone else. You’re not there just for yourself. The researchers have to collect the animals they find, sediment, rock, water. You collect everything in order to have materials for each researcher. Biologists collected rocks and geologists collected animals. Everybody tried to take photos or videos, as this is also evidence,” explains Augustin.
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Discovery of the Brazilian Atlantis
A SCIENTIFIC ADVENTURE —
A Japanese-Brazilian oceanographic research project is looking for answers concerning the formation of Africa and the Americas, as well as life forms in extreme environments. It is possible that important data about mineral reserves will be obtained. MINAS GERAIS
N EXPANDED AREA
RIO DE JANEIRO SÃO PAULO
The expedition resulted from a technical cooperation agreement between the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Brazil’s Science, Technology & Innovation and Foreign Relations Ministries, the Brazilian Geological Service (CPRM), the University of São Paulo Oceanographic Institute, the Itajaí Valley University and the Federal University of Espírito Santo. Petrobras participated as a consultant.
RIO GRANDE ELEVATION 2 dives with Shinkai 6500 1 dive with Deeptow (a camera)
PARANÁ
SANTA CATARINA
SCIENTIFIC COOPERATION —
SÃO PAULO PLATEAU 6 dives with Shinkai 6500
RIO GRANDE DO SUL
SÃO PAULO RIDGE 5 dives with Shinkai 6500 1 dive with Deeptow (a camera) Atlantic Ocean
FIRST STAGE (FROM APRIL 12 TO MAY 5, 2013) Total days at sea: 24 Route: from Cape Town (South Africa) to Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) Dive locations: Rio Grande Elevation and São Paulo Ridge Number of dives: 9
SECOND STAGE (FROM MAY 9 TO MAY 24, 2013) Total days at sea: 16 Route: from Rio de Janeiro to Santos, off the southeast Brazilian coast Brazilian coast dive location: São Paulo Plateau Number of dives: 6
Submersible Shinkai 6500 Crew: two pilots and one researcher. Built in Japan, in 1991
Support boat: Yokosuka Crew: 60 people Built in 1990
- 318 meters A) The submersible descends for two and a half hours
- 3,500 meters The greatest depth reached was 4,250 meters, during the first stage of the expedition, on the São Paulo Ridge
- 6,500 meters
B) It reaches the seafloor
C O N T I N E N TA L SHELF SOURCE: Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)
D) It returns to the surface at a speed of 45 meters per minute
C) It observes the seabed for three hours SEAFLOOR
OVER THE SEAS
LABORATORY ANALYSIS CONFIRMED THAT THE ROCKS REMOVED FROM THE SÃO PAULO PLATEAU DATE BACK AROUND 50 MILLION YEARS —
Shinkai 6500 —
COMMUNICATION observation sonar and acoustic positioning hydrophone
THE SÃO PAULO PLATEAU The second leg of the expedition occurred in May of the same year and lasted 16 days. Shinkai 6500’s six dives took place between Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo, off the southeast coast of Brazil. The aim was to investigate the São Paulo Plateau, located in the Campos and Espírito Santo basins, some of the country’s most important oil basins. Petrobras’ representative during this stage was geologist Fernando Freire. The team of researchers was largely composed of biologists and they were more focused on looking for exotic life forms than geological discoveries.
“It was interesting because, if there were a mountain of gold there, they wouldn’t even notice. They would pay more attention to a crab that was close by. Likewise, if I were to see an elephant there, I would be more concerned with trying to study the rock under it,” he says. Like Augustin, this was also the first time that Freire had dived. “The previous night, I almost gave up. When I saw the size of the submersible, I thought of the various ways a person could die in there. From an instantaneous death, if there were a problem with the pressure, to a lingering death in the case of an electrical failure,” he recounts.
Salt layers
HORIZONTAL PROPELLER to move along the seabed, where it is only possible to advance horizontally
CAMERAS to shoot high-definition videos
JAMSTEC’s special interest in Petrobras’ knowledge goes back some time. The agency has a drillship that undertakes scientific drilling throughout the world and it seeks to learn how to operate in deep waters where there are thick layers of salt. Hence the cooperation with Petrobras. “Japan has projects in the Mediterranean Sea and in other areas where there is also a very thick salt layer. Like the South Atlantic, the Mediterranean received a deposit of thick salt layers during its geological history. Salt is waterproof and everything that lies beneath it receives very little interference from what is above. They want to discover whether there are any signs of life in extreme environments that could be associated with salt, or find out what type of world this was before the salt was deposited,” explains Viana. Around 6 million years ago, when tectonic movements joined northern Africa to what we now know as the Iberian Peninsula, the Mediterranean was separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a mountain chain. After this, it experienced an accelerated evaporation process, favored by the extreme salinity of its waters. The sea turned into a practically dry and sterile plain around 1,500 meters below sea level. The historic period in which the evaporation process reversed is still unknown to researchers.
MOBILE BUCKETS
INSPECTION LIGHTS seven in all, which illuminate up to 10 meters in the pitch-black darkness of the seabed
It is the only manned submersible vehicle in the world that can descend as deep as 6,500 meters. In 1991, it started to conduct
topographical and geological research and to look for living organisms in extreme environments in the oceans.
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By 2012, it had done 1,300 dives. It was the main vessel used for the “QUELLE 2013 – Quest for the Limit of Life” expedition.
DIMENSIONS — TANKS that carry 1,200 kilograms of ballast
MAIN PROPELLERS two propellers with blades
Length: 9.7 meters
Height: 4.1 meters
Breadth: 2.8 meters
DIRECTION OF DIVE
2 meters in
SPECIFICATIONS —
dia me te
r
k
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Duration of a dive......................................................8 hours Duration of vital support system......................129 hours
SPHERICAL CABIN with a methacrylate resin window positioned low down
Maximum depth reached...............................6,500 meters Pressure at depth of 6.5 km.................681 atmospheres Cargo capacity........150 kilograms (weight at sea level) Cabin made of titanium alloy......................73.5 mm thick
PRESSURE HULL
BATTERIES two lithium-ion batteries
VERTICAL PROPELLERS two propellers lift Shinkai at a rate of 45 meters per minute
Shinkai’s inhabitable space lies inside a pressure hull with an internal diameter of just two meters. This space can accommodate two pilots and one researcher. Various instruments are also installed in the pressure hull, making the inhabitable area even smaller.
WEIGHT AND SPEED —
26.7 metric tons
is the submersible’s weight ROBOTIC ARMS to collect samples and mobile buckets that can transport up to 100 kilograms of materials SOURCE: Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)
5 kilometers per hour is the submersible's maximum speed
OVER THE SEAS
Although he says that the eight hours flew by, Freire confesses that the work was tiring. “It’s a complicated environment. You have to crouch for practically all the time (only one person can stand up at a time) and the windows were near the ground. I needed to contort myself. I felt backache for the two following days. This submersible can’t go backward. So, when we passed by something interesting very quickly, I needed to ask the pilot to do a circle. This can be a little tiresome after a while,” he explains.
Photo: courtesy of geologist Adolpho Agustin
In all, 15 dives took place during the expedition off the Brazilian coast
Each dive lasted for around eight hours: a little over two hours to descend, the same to ascend and the three remaining hours for operations. “But imagine if something goes wrong and you have to spend five days in a dark, enclosed place, with an average temperature of between two and five degrees Celsius until you are rescued. If you are in fact rescued! It’s impossible to ignore your fears when entering a submersible of this kind,” says Freire.
The circles that Freire obliged the pilot to do were not in vain. Laboratory analysis conducted after the mission of the materials collected during his dive confirmed that the rocks removed from the São Paulo Plateau area dated back around 50 million years, and this will permit further study of that period, when important climatic changes on land and sea took place. “The discovery and dating of the rocks is significant for oil exploration and scientific knowledge of the area’s tectonics,” explains Freire. Furthermore, according to biologists, the microfossils collected were also very well preserved, and this will greatly facilitate subsequent studies. Despite all the difficulties, Freire says he would do everything again. “If I could go back, I would. I will remember this expedition forever. I am proud to have this feat on my resume. I am one of very few Brazilian researchers to have been to that place so far,” he says.
The Gondwana supercontinent The fragmentation of the supercontinent of Gondwana began in the Late Jurassic period and culminated in the Early Cretaceous period, around 110 million years ago. When the continent broke up, two plates were created, the South American Plate and the African Plate, which slowly moved apart by a few centimeters per year. As the gap between them opened up, this caused volcanic phenomena and earthquakes, as well as the formation of sedimentary basins – depressions where sediments transported by the action of rivers, the wind and the sea accumulated. The separation of the South American and African plates generated an elongated north-south depression, bordered by parallel faults, formed by the stretching of the planet’s uppermost layer, the crust. The final rupture of the continents took place between what is now northeast Brazil and the Nigeria-Gabon region of Africa. (Source: CPRM – SINGRE 2013 Project)
Photo: courtesy of geologist Fernando Freire
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DRILLING IS THE NEXT STEP Similar missions to the ones that led the Brazilian geologists to the seabed may take place soon. According to Viana, the idea is to return to the Rio Grande Elevation in 2017 or 2018, to finally carry out drilling and confirm whether we are really looking at a part of the continent in the depths of the sea. Viana says that the technology for this drilling already exists, but the cost is very high and it would be necessary to do the venture in partnership with other international scientific institutions and bodies, which have already demonstrated considerable interest in participating in a joint operation with Brazilian science and technology institutions, as well as Petrobras and CPRM. “We are starting to uncover a secret. We need to invest more in research. Besides the geological interest, the area may host other life forms capable of withstanding extreme conditions,” says Viana. There is also economic interest and the idea of extracting the area’s mineral resources in the near future. CPRM has made a request to the International Seabed Authority (ISA), a UN entity, to delimit the mineral prospecting area in the Rio Grande Elevation region. “With this delimitation, it will be possible to study the area for the next 15 years to check its economic feasibility. After carrying out these studies, and if the
Photo: courtesy of geologist Fernando Freire
results are positive, we will be able to request the expansion of Brazil’s maritime boundaries. The Rio Grande Elevation lies in international waters, without an owner,” explains Roberto Ventura, Director of Geology and Mineral Resources at CPRM.
Above, Fernando Freire during his dive; below, rocks found during the first leg of the mission See images from the seabed taken during the expedition in the tablet version and at www.petrobras.com/ magazine
SPIRAL
GETTING THE BALL ROLLING FROM THE NORTH TO THE SOUTH Brazilians are born with the game in their soul. Children learn geometry even before they first go to school. Notions of spatial mathematics are to be found in the field’s rectangle and the ball’s diameter. It’s easy to calculate why Brazil, the only five-time world champion, is a leading producer of football players Photo: Francisco de Souza
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Despite its small size, the municipality has been facing social problems typical of major cities, hampering the future of young people, who after finishing high school don’t have the resources to attend the nearest university (200 kilometers away), in the city of Sobral.
n the year when Brazil hosts the biggest football tournament in the world, Petrobras Magazine Global Connections traveled across the country to understand how the country’s passion has become a powerful tool for social inclusion among children and teenagers, and to explain a little more about this land of the “beautiful game.” KICK OFF IN THE “BRAZILIAN SWITZERLAND” Our journey began in Fortaleza, capital of the state of Ceará in Northeast Brazil, 360 kilometers from our first destination, Viçosa do Ceará. This municipality, nestled in the Ibiapaba Hills, is known by its residents as the Brazilian Switzerland as it has the highest altitude and the mildest climate in the state. The photos taken along the way give an idea of the country’s diverse landscapes – from arid backlands to exuberant green. It’s a small community, with 40,000, mostly rural inhabitants. The houses are simple, made of bricks or colored cement, with pink, orange and light green predominating. The constancy of the colors is only broken up by highway CE-187.
THE IDOLS Center-forward Hernane, goalkeeper Felipe and right-back Leo Moura, all Flamengo players (the team with the most fans in Brazil) have many supporters there. Although Ceará has two major teams (Ceará and Fortaleza), 17-year-old Dayane Silva says: “I was born a Flamengo fan.” She doesn’t plan to be a football player, although she won the last female football championship in the town. “I want to be a psychologist and help other children. It’s hard, but we have to learn to overcome our problems – to think quickly during a match and dodge the defenders to score a goal,” says the girl, who lost her father two years ago. The parallel between football and life made by Dayane resonates with the values conveyed by the “Entering the Field” project run by Santo Expedito, the town’s only social association. Dayane is a member of a team of 151 boys and girls who try to follow the steps of their idols. They also learn principles to help give them a brighter future despite their adversities. It’s a curious fact that “Entering the Field” was created by Nakeida Carvalho, who has never been well acquainted with football. “I had a go at it once but I was lousy,” she says. She
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arrived in Viçosa 20 years ago with her husband, who wanted to return to his hometown. Used to living in the larger and more bustling city of Solonópole, the Banco do Brasil retiree looked for an activity to make use of her time. One afternoon, while watching a group of kids playing football, she had an idea – to use football as an educational tool to improve their lives. She developed a proposal for the “Entering the Field” project and submitted it to the public contest of the Petrobras Sport & Citizenship Program’s Educational Projects. Nakeida says she actually dreamt of receiving a phone call from someone at the company. That day arrived and her project was approved in 2012. To find the youngsters, just go to one of the football pitches. One of them is next to a barn and a chicken coop – in fact a chicken is the team mascot! The other is on the other side of highway CE-187, bigger than an official football field and made of uneven earth and sand, which isn’t a problem for the kids. Under the supervision of Caetano José, a 50-year-old teacher and an expert in various sports, we tried to discover the reason why football is universally popular among all social classes of Brazilians from all parts of the country. “I’ve often argued with my girlfriend because of football. I spent my childhood and teenage years fascinated by football, and I still am. There’s no explanation; it’s such a thrilling emotion,” said Caetano.
SPIRAL
The activities conducted in the project go well beyond ball skills. Every day, before entering the field – and in line with school timetables – the children participate for an hour in a conversation group, featuring complementary educational activities to support their
schoolwork. ”We are talking about developing people, instilling them with values ready to face the world,” explained the teacher. The project uses the national sport as an educational tool, stimulating
A FOOTBALL JOURNEY FROM NORTH TO SOUTH 1. FORTALEZA
(state capital of Ceará)
2. VIÇOSA DO CEARÁ
360 km traveled
(Ibiapaba Hills) “Entering the Field”
1,200 km traveled
2012 151
3. CAMAÇARI
(near Salvador – state capital of Bahia) “Educating with a ball: the educational feasibilities of football” 6,260 km traveled
2013 200
Petrobras Sport & Citizenship Program Educational Sport Segment
5. NITERÓI
(Rio de Janeiro) “Different Talents” 2012 500
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projects in Brazil
60,000
3,600 km traveled
beneficiaries
Name of project supported by Petrobras Start date Boys and girls participating in the program
4. SÃO LEOPOLDO
(next to Porto Alegre, state capital of Rio Grande do Sul) “Educational sport, building citizenship, rescuing lives” 2012 200
socialization while also nourishing the kids’ dreams to be football stars. This is the desire of the 14-year-old da Silva twins, Ivanildo (left back) and Ivanilson (goalkeeper). “We’d love to be football stars, but if it’s not possible, I’ll be a dentist and my brother will be a policeman,” says Ivanilson. THE DISCOVERY The next day, we traveled 1,200 kilometers to Camaçari, a town near Salvador, the state capital of Bahia. There we found Cristóvão Colombo, a local football “discoverer.” Together with Valdemir Ribeiro (known as “Macarrão,” meaning “Pasta”), he runs the football Academy Club, a social institution that manages the “Educating with a ball: the educational feasibilities of football” project. It was the day for distributing team uniforms. The parents were waiting in a line to receive their kit, consisting of football shoes, shorts and long socks. Two teams dominate the state championships: Bahia and Vitória. Ricardo Miranda, aged 11, supports the “tricolor baiano” – the affectionate nickname of Bahia’s team given by its fans. Ricardo has been taking part in the project for three years, and for two years now he has been training in the children’s division at a school associated with his beloved team. “The project offers training through sport. Our 1,000 kids also do IT classes and educational activities, which reinforce important values,” says Macarrão. Cristóvão can’t remember how many Football Academy Club players have moved on to teams in the Brazilian championship first and second divisions. The association operates in two locations: a new futsal site, which opened this year after a sports court was renovated; and a football field that was opened with Petrobras’ sponsorship in 2012, surrounded by coconut trees, under a blue sky worthy of the tales of Bahia-born writer Jorge Amado. “The country has evolved at a fast pace, but so have the problems, and the children are vulnerable to them. Many arrive here afraid to interact, but when they start participating in the project’s activities, they start to become sociable,” says Macarrão.
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THE REFUGE A further 3,600 kilometers to the south and we arrived in São Leopoldo, a city adjacent to Porto Alegre, state capital of Rio Grande do Sul. We went to São Miguel, a neighborhood with high levels of violence. Right at the entrance, the children flocked around us. We could soon see that many of them had a story to tell. The first of these stories – which inspired the creation of the Lenon Joel Peace Institute in 2006 – was that of Noli and Sanaile Backes. Their 16-yearold son, Lenon Joel, was murdered during a robbery at their family store in September of that year. The institute represented the overcoming of adversity, running sporting, school and vocational training activities for children aged seven to 17. Among all the projects, the most popular ones involve football. Every Thursday and Saturday, classes are given to up to 100 children. Boys and girls compete in matches on the football field at the Obras e Viação Futebol Clube venue. The facility has two changing rooms, two wooden benches and a plastic table. When the children arrive, football boots of all sizes are spread out over the ground. They all look for their own pair and then go to warm up on the field. Nathielle Silva, aged 12, helps with organizing the teams. She’s the leader of the group and, despite being a part of the female minority, everybody obeys her. Nath, as she is called, also plays football very well. She can dribble past many boys and she is sure of one thing: “I want to be the next Marta (elected the world’s best female player five consecutive times), from the Brazilian women’s football team.” She now dedicates herself to school and football. “I study, practice and help other kids at the NGO,” she says. There’s a break in the match to drink some water. In the line for the drinking
Passion for football enables the development of children and adolescents in various regions across the country Photos: Francisco de Souza
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SPIRAL Photos: Francisco de Souza
Professional players in Brazil UP TO 18 YEARS:
2,094
8
Brazilians
Foreigners
—
—
OVER 18 YEARS:
12,484 112 Brazilians
Foreigners
—
—
Source: Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), 2013
fountain, there’s a boy, Paulo César. He has been taking football classes at the Lenon Joel Peace Institute for one year, but only now is he participating in the NGO’s other projects. Given his violent family background, he found it hard to adapt. However, he persevered, due to his identification with football. Today, he’s one of the first to arrive. He roots for Internacional (a leading team in the state of Rio Grande do Sul), but his idol and role model is Argentina’s Lionel Messi, who plays for Barcelona. Paulo drank water for 30 seconds and then went back to the middle of the field. He’s already in position, ready to restart the match. He scored several goals. After one of them, he turned to the stand as if to say, “Did you see my goal?” Somebody acknowledged him, making him happy with the recognition. The project coordinator, Fernanda Appelt, says that football has helped
Paulo to change his attitude. “This is educational sport building citizenship and rescuing lives,” she says. “His body language and way of talking have already changed. He’s no longer violent. He plays and scores more goals than anyone else. In this change, we can clearly see the process of inclusion at work.” Fernanda’s words serve as indicators for Petrobras’ Social Investment Area – responsible for managing the Educational Sport segment of the Petrobras Sport & Citizenship Program. “Our program aims to democratize access to resources for projects, from all over the country, that promote social inclusion through sport. We expect the results to help strengthen public policies that affirm sport and education as a right, contributing to the Brazil’s development,” explains Rosane Aguiar, Social Investment Manager at Petrobras. The company has launched a new public contest this year to allocate R$45 million (around US$19.9 million) to projects that directly benefit children and teenagers through sport.
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Global Connections
MOTOR COORDINATION AND PERFORMANCE AT SCHOOL After traveling for 6,260 kilometers, we ended our journey in Niterói in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Classes were resuming after the school holidays and the children were bubbling over with excitement. Armando Alves, a teacher at the “Different Talents” project, run by the Niterói Association of People with Physical Disabilities (Andef), went to get the materials (uniforms, cones, whistle and ball) while the kids improvised a game using a plastic water bottle as a ball. They ran onto the field, chose the biggest kid as goalkeeper and started to play. It wasn’t a contest between teams. They all just kicked the ball whenever they could. When the teacher returned with all the paraphernalia the children didn’t even notice. Then the referee’s whistle brought the impromptu game to an end and everyone put on their uniforms and helped to lay out the cones. The teacher held onto the ball and only released it
IN VIÇOSA DO CEARÁ, FOOTBALL HAS BECOME A TEACHING TOOL FOR BOYS AND GIRLS — when the pitch was ready, which took less than five minutes. The referee then blew the whistle and the match began. The children, ordered into lines, zigzagged round the cones toward the ball. Everything was narrated by the teacher, who made a running commentary: “Davi, the international striker, prepares to shoot for a goal. Oh no! It hit the bar!” Davi Rocha, aged nine, has Downs Syndrome and is the most enthusiastic player in the group, which consists of around 10 children. When he sees the ball, he runs eagerly after it. And not only on the Andef field. “He can’t see a ball. He starts to play inside our home. He decides that the neighbor’s yard will be the goal. When the ball ends up there, the game ends. He gets sad because the game has ended, but he’s happy about the goal,” says his father, José Carlos Rocha.
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The Petrobras Sport & Citizenship Program aims to contribute to the democratization of access to sports participation Rocha says that his son’s motor coordination, socialization and cognitive capacity, and school performance have all greatly improved as a result of football. Davi has been taking part in the Different Talents project for two years and says he is going to play for Barcelona, like his idol Neymar. Learn more about the Petrobras Sport & Citizenship in the tablet version and at www.petrobras.com/ magazine
See a gallery of informal football pitches around Brazil
INSIDE STORY
SUPER-ALLOYS for pre-salt
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Global Connections
Petrobras develops resistant steel to overcome the challenges of producing oil in Brazilian basins
I
t’s not hard to understand why the name Carlos José Bandeira de Mello Joia is referenced in numerous MA and PhD engineering theses at Brazilian universities. Graduating in metallurgical and material engineering, Joia (as he is known to his colleagues) has been with Petrobras for 35 years, 21 at the company’s research center (Cenpes). For five years now, he has been in charge of developing and selecting materials for equipment used in the pre-salt fields. It’s a complex activity that has contributed to the creation of innovative solutions, enabling Petrobras to overcome the challenges involved in deep-water production. Brazil’s offshore basins are among the harshest environments in the world in terms of corrosive agents acting on oil and gas production equipment, due to their different depths, temperatures and pressures. These conditions make Joia’s work as head of the Corrosion and Material Selection Laboratory team even more fundamental to achieving Petrobras’ targets. While planning to increase its Brazilian output from current levels of around 2 million barrels per day to 3.2 million in 2018 (52% from pre-salt), the company also has a goal to raise its productivity and cut operating costs. “Due to the great demands of pre-salt, we need to accelerate the development of anti-corrosion materials that extend lifespans or point to the use of new alloys. At the same time, the issue of cost reduction is also fundamental,” says Joia.
Joia is responsible for developing and selecting materials for pre-salt fields Photo: Francisco de Souza and André Motta de Souza / Petrobras Image Bank
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The engineer, who in early 2013 joined Petrobras’ group of 45 “master consultants” (the title used at the company to recognize professionals with the most expertise and experience, who are developing innovative solutions in strategic activities), has lost count of the projects he and his team have conducted and that have ended up gaining patents for Petrobras. These projects have generated innovative solutions based on major synergies with the metallurgical industry and academic centers – partners in the development of resistant, high-tenacity alloys that meet the heightened demands of pre-salt, on budget and on time. The projects also focus on increasing the lifespan of equipment used in production fields. Between 2010 and 2012, in partnership with the international metallurgy industry, they completed the development of 17-chromium stainless steel and an evaluation of the suitability of using supermartensitic 13Cr stainless steel in pre-salt conditions. Both alloys have since been used in pre-salt fields off the southeast coast of Brazil, generating savings of US$300 million for Petrobras. On a Monday afternoon, our reporting team talked to Joia, during a temporary move of its Corrosion and Material Selection Laboratory to the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)’s building while the lab’s facilities are being expanded.
INSIDE STORY
“DUE TO THE HEAVY PRE-SALT DEMANDS, WE NEED TO ACCELERATE THE DEVELOPMENT OF ANTI-CORROSIVE MATERIALS,” SAYS JOIA —
PMGC – Why are Brazil’s basins considered such challenging environments for oil production? Joia – We can say that our fields’ conditions are unique. In pre-salt, for example, we are talking about multiple pressures and temperatures that determine the types of corrosive agents that act on production equipment. They act on columns, rigid risers, flexible pipes and metal plates, among other production line components, and always in a varied manner, causing different degrees of corrosion.
PMGC – Do they vary in line with the field, in different Brazilian oil basins? Joia – Yes, they do. In the case of Santos Basin, we’re talking about larger overall depths and water depths, meaning higher pressures and deeper reservoirs. In other words, the higher the pressure, the greater the corrosive action. At the same time, due to the characteristics of the reservoirs and because of how the oil was obtained, the levels of contaminants, especially CO2 (carbon dioxide), are very high. From field to field, in the same basin, it varies from 5% to 20%. And I’m only talking about production tubing, not lines and pipelines connected to the Christmas tree, or the risers that go up from the seabed to the platform, which experience another kind of corrosion.
ESPÍRITO SANTO
MINAS GERAIS
CAMPOS BASIN
RIO DE JANEIRO
N
SÃO PAULO
O
E S
SANTOS BASIN
Pre-salt area
m m 100
1,0
00 m
50
m
00
2,0
0
SOURCE: January 15,15, 2014 SOURCE:Petrobras, Petrobras,information informationdated dated January 2014
100
Km 200
Libra field Petrobras + partners, pre-salt Petrobras + partners, post-salt Petrobras, pre-salt Petrobras, post-salt
PMGC – These agents need to be recognized in each oil field in order to determine the most resistant alloys and materials. What stages are involved in this process? Joia – When you discover a new production field, you need to take samples of oil and gas from the bottom of the reservoir and send them for analysis. When you extract oil, it comes mixed with acidic gases like CO2 and H2S (hydrogen sulfide), as well as water. This combination of water and acidic gas causes metals to corrode. Our job is to select the lowest-cost metal alloy that is suitable for the production system over the course of the field’s lifespan. It is important to evaluate the speed of the corrosion process and to understand the performance of materials in these diverse conditions in order to recommend the most appropriate and durable ones. PMGC – How long does this kind of research take? Joia – From two to three years, sometimes even four. In fact, it’s a process that evolves in line with the environment. The tests need to reproduce it until we recognize the phenomena and start to develop an alloy. The first challenge is to define the environment, a very complex process. To give you an idea, Santos Basin, which is home to the biggest pre-salt reserves, extends from the south of the state of São Paulo up to Espírito Santo. The diversity of corrosive environments is very great and, even forecasting all scenarios, we still end up with surprises.
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Global Connections
OF RESEARCH WERE NEEDED TO DEVELOP CR17 — CR17 AND 13CR HAVE SO FAR GENERATED
US$300 MILLION
IN SAVINGS FOR PETROBRAS — PMGC – Super-martensitic 13Cr stainless steel is now being used in pre-salt, in Santos Basin, replacing a more expensive material. How did the evaluation of its performance go? Joia – The research took almost four years. We arrived at supermartensitic stainless steel, a type of steel to replace the super-duplex kind of steel applied in high-corrosion conditions, which is more expensive. We discovered that the alloy, which is not normally used in fields with higher levels of CO2, may be used in materials for production tubing and casing in conditions with higher levels of CO2 due to the process of interaction between the reservoir’s rocks and the formation water, which makes the corrosion process less severe. As well as being cheaper, the steel has a shorter delivery period given by suppliers, which is more suited to pre-salt demands.
52% OF PETROBRAS’ PRODUCTION
IN 2018 WILL COME FROM PRE-SALT —
PMGC – How about the development of Cr17? Joia – Cr17 required four years of research and it has produced a good return for Petrobras in pre-salt, where the alloy is already being used. It’s a type of stainless steel designed to coat the walls of pre-salt wells and production tubing. The first tests indicated that it would be worthwhile to manufacture this steel, which contains 25% chromium, as well as additions of nickel and molybdenum – a very expensive combination. In the whole world, only the Japanese produce a similar type of steel. We contacted some suppliers and a Japanese company that had already developed a less expensive alloy than the duplex, which contains 25% chromium, was the quickest to respond to us. We did a program of tests with them and it was interesting because the Japanese normally arrive with a ready product, whereas in the case of Cr17, they agreed to develop the alloy together with our testing program. PMGC – So partnerships are fundamental to innovation at Petrobras and the success of projects? Joia – You don’t get very far alone these days. Cenpes was established 50 years ago near a renowned teaching institution, UFRJ, strengthening a vision that science and technology should always work together. We are also partners with a number of
other centers of excellence, such as the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) and Campinas State University (Unicamp). Multidisciplinary teamwork is very important. In the case of Cr17 and 13Cr, interaction with the people in the Reservoirs Laboratory and the international partner’s involvement were crucial. All this synergy also drives Brazilian industry to meet the demands and schedule of pre-salt, unlike in the past. With time and results, respect for Petrobras has grown. Today, there’s a continuous exchange of knowledge, and for me, that’s what turns me on.
Photo: Thinkstock / Petrobras Image Bank
4 YEARS
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ART BOOK
Provocations in diagrams — The art of Sarah Morris provokes new ways of seeing things
T
he work of English artist Sarah Morris invites people to look at cities and their people in a different way. They are screens of sinuous geometric shapes and strong colors, images and photos that contextualize the everyday life and architecture of urban residences. In her exhibition “Rio”, Morris presents her vision of the multiple and complex layers of that most contradictory of cities, Rio de Janeiro.
Morris was born in 1967 in England and grew up in the United States. Her visits to Brazil began in her teenage years, when she went with her family to Rio de Janeiro in the early 1980s. Images of the city were engraved in her memory. When she returned, in 2011, the architectural developments of the subsequent three decades caused discomfort in the perspective of the already renowned contemporary artist.
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Photo: Ben Westoby / Courtesy of White Cube
Global Connections
“Petrobras [Rio],” created in 2012 using a household gloss technique on a screen. Size: 2.14 m x 2.14 m
Photo: Ben Westoby / Courtesy of White Cube
ART BOOK
The “Bye, Bye Brazil” exhibition took place from July to September 2013 at the White Cube gallery in London
Photo: Christopher Burke, New York / Courtesy of White Cube
“July 2013 [Rio],” produced in 2013
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Global Connections
Photo: Ben Westoby / Courtesy of White Cube
“Parque Guinle – Nova Cintra [Rio],” 2013 Photo: Ben Westoby / Courtesy of White Cube
“Jockey Club Brasileiro [Rio],” 2012
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ART BOOK
“Sambódromo da Marquês de Sapucaí [Rio],” 2012
Photos: Courtesy of White Cube
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“Globo [Rio],” 2013
SCREENS WITH SINUOUS GEOMETRIC SHAPES AND STRONG COLORS CONTEXTUALIZE RIO DE JANEIRO’S ARCHITECTURE IN SARAH MORRIS’ VISION —
Her curiosity aroused, Morris looked for references. She discovered architect Oscar Niemeyer and dived into the work of Lina Bo Bardi, a Brazilian-naturalized Italian artist, and landscape designer Roberto Burle Marx. Her impressions resulted in the creation of the exhibition “Rio” (2012), composed of an 88-minute film of that name, a series of 16 screens and a collection of photos, which illustrated her July 2013 exhibition “Bye, Bye Brazil” at the White Cube, one of London’s leading galleries. Morris’ screens and images provoke new perceptions of architectural interferences and life in the cities she visits, which she calls urban typologies. They are provocations in diagrams and images, such as the works “Sambódromo”, of Brazil’s samba venue; “Posto 8” de Ipanema, with her view of the sensuality of Rio de Janeiro; and the sumptuous concrete lines of Petrobras’ headquarters, set off against gardens designed by Burle Marx. “Praça da Apoteose [Rio],” 2012
ART BOOK
Scene from movie “Rio,” shown at White Cube gallery in London
Morris chose the screen “Petrobras [Rio]” to be the cover of one of the editions of the Pocket Tube Map (2012), a pocket map of the London Underground distributed to millions of people in the stations. It is a diagram that suggests movements and interactions, of intense colors. “The building makes us think of a journey rather than a linear path,” says the artist, who is a member of the Art on the Underground curatorship commission – a London underground program that presents contemporary works of art to passengers.
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THE ARTIST’S IMAGES PROVOKE NEW PERCEPTIONS ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT AND LIFE IN THE CITIES SHE VISITS —
Photos by artist Sarah Morris show everyday life in the city
Photos: Courtesy of White Cube
ART BOOK Photos: Courtesy of White Cube
“Judicial Non-Tessellation” exhibition, held at the Federal Courthouse of Berga, Norway, in 2012 Artist Sarah Morris with Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer in an interview for the movie “Rio,” in 2011
Sarah Morris has a degree in Semiotics and Political Philosophy from Brown University, Rhode Island, and she has completed an Independent Study Program at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. She has participated in numerous individual and collective exhibitions in major galleries and museums in the United States, Europe and Asia. Her work features in the archives of the world’s leading museums, such as the Solomon Guggenheim in New York, the Victoria and Albert in London and the Pompidou Center in Paris. She lives and works in New York and the United Kingdom.
See more photos and videos about the “Bye, Bye Brazil” exhibition in the tablet version and at www.petrobras.com/ magazine
TO UNDERSTAND RIO, MORRIS IMMERSED HERSELF IN THE WORK OF OSCAR NIEMEYER, LINA BO BARDI AND LANDSCAPE DESIGNER ROBERTO BURLE MARX — Sarah’s images show aspects of everyday life in Rio de Janeiro, such as a fruit stand in a street market, a business meeting and a girl at the beach
Check out the tablet version of this edition Now that you have read the new Petrobras Magazine Global Connections, you can find more unique information and multimedia content in our iPad and Android versions. The PMGC app can be downloaded from the Apple Store and Google Play store. You will be notified whenever there is an update or a new edition of the magazine. You can also download this content using a QR code. To decipher the code, you need to have an app installed on your tablet. Open the app and take a photo of the code shown on the back cover of this magazine. Click Read Code to go to the download page. The digital content is also available at www.petrobras.com/magazine.
OVER THE SEAS Explore the depths of the Atlantic Ocean together with mini-submarine Shinkai 6500 and participate in the Iatá-Piuna expedition to the “Brazilian Atlantis.”
DIALOGUES Don’t miss our conversation with John McLaughlin, of the Silicon Valley Historical Association, and Maurício Guedes, of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro Technology Park, about the future of technology hubs. Access our photo gallery showing entrepreneurs who have changed the history of technology.
SPIRAL From north to south, people in Brazil are passionate about football. See some key figures about Brazilian football, the titles won by the country’s national team and the players who have been named The World’s Best Player. You can also read about neighborhood football fields around the country, find out more about the Petrobras Sport & Citizenship Program and discover why football is a passion in Brazil.
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ARTBOOK Trips to Rio de Janeiro are the raw materials used by English multimedia artist Sarah Morris for the exhibition “Rio.” Browse through Sarah’s work and find out more about Art on the Underground, the London subway’s art program, of which she is curator.
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