Petrobras awarded to Halliburton the drilling and completion of four onshore wells for the CCS São Tomé project in Rio de Janeiro the contract will allow progress on the infrastructure needed to test the carbon dioxide capture, transport and injection in a saline reservoir.
The Brazilian oil company will use the pilot project to evaluate carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies before moving toward larger-scale developments. The initiative envisions storing up to 100,000 tons of CO2 per year for three years.
Halliburton will drill four wells for Petrobras
Specifically, the scope contracted to Halliburton consider one vertical injection well and three directional monitoring wells the facilities will be located at the Barra do Furado station, in the municipality of Quissamã, Rio de Janeiro state.
In addition to drilling, Halliburton will be in charge of well completion, Petrobras expects to complete these activities and the associated infrastructure in 2028 to prepare for the start of project operations.
Monitoring wells will play an essential role during the tests; their function will be to obtain information on the behavior of CO2 once injected and to track its movement within the geological formation.
The project also includes technologies to improve the monitoring of underground storage, including the use of fiber optics in wells to track the movement of the CO2 plume and systems designed to obtain fluid samples from the reservoir.
The CO2 will travel via gas pipeline to Barra do Furado
The CCS São Tomé project scheme begins in the Cabiúnas Natural Gas Treatment Unit (Tecab), located in Macaé. There, the carbon dioxide will be captured before being sent to the storage site.
Subsequently, the CO2 will be transported via pipeline to Barra do Furado, about 78 kilometers distance, from this facility, the injection will be carried out into the saline reservoir selected for the tests.
This configuration makes São Tomé a relevant project for the development of the carbon capture in Brazil Petrobras presents it as the first pilot project in Latin America that integrates the transport of CO2 by gas pipeline with its storage in a saline reservoir.
The CCS São Tomé project will store 100,000 tons of CO2
Besides, Petrobras intends to use the facility to capture and store up to 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year during its injection stage.
The operational phase is planned for 2029 the program includes three years of CO2 injection and subsequently another three years dedicated to monitoring the reservoir.
In this way, the company will be able to study the behavior of carbon dioxide underground and obtain data on the safety and efficiency of geological storage.
The project will also serve as a research, development and invention environment, the results may provide technical information for Brazilian agencies linked to oil and environmental regulation and contribute to the development of criteria applicable to future commercial carbon storage projects.
São Tomé promotes Petrobras’ decarbonization strategy
For Petrobras, the pilot program will allow them to gain experience in CO2 capture, transport, drilling, injection, storage and monitoring before evaluating facilities with a higher capacity.
The company considers CCS among the technologies that can contribute to reducing emissions from industrial activities where direct decarbonization presents greater difficulties.
Furthermore, the experience gained with São Tomé will allow for the analysis of technical and economic aspects associated with geological carbon storage in Brazil. The performance of the wells and the reservoir will be especially important for evaluating future developments.
With the award to Halliburton, Petrobras is advancing one of the central stages of the project’s underground infrastructure. The drilling, scheduled to continue until 2028, will prepare the system to begin CO2 injection in 2029 and test, on a pilot scale, the potential of carbon storage in saline reservoirs.
Source: Upstreamonline
Photo: Shutterstock
