Pre-Salt Brazil meeting in September to showcase opportunities for international offshore companies

As Brazil prepares to explore one of the largest oil discoveries ever, international oil and gas operators are meeting with the state-run body Petrobras and other government institutions at the annual Pre-Salt Brazil Congress in Rio de Janeiro in September.

The massive offshore oil and gas reserves remain of crucial economic and political importance in Brazil, says Pre-Salt Brazil Congress project director, Bruno Araújo. "So far more than eight wells have been tested and more than 80 billion barrels estimated as reserves by the regulation agency", he continues. "Despite the depth of these reserves, 7000m below sea level, and the hard drilling layer of salt it is under, which will push up the price of production, these discoveries will make Brazil the 5th top global oil producer, from its current 16th position. As it represents one of the largest discoveries in the history of oil, it does involve a lot of the international oil & gas markets, from oil operators to subsea and driller vendors, down to the metal and heavy construction companies", according to the Pre-Salt Brazil project director.

Challenges provide opportunities
Bruno Araújo says access, lack of skilled labor and logistics pose some of the biggest challenges to explore the pre-salt fields but at the same time, create enormous opportunities: "Petrobras and its partners in the subsalt area, need to capitalise and develop exploration technology for the area. Vendors of all offshore areas would also be needed on a global perspective to supply these consortiums with floating, drilling and subsea equipment and services. Besides, the seven largest oil companies in the world are desperate for new oil reserves and have shown themselves to be willing to pay whatever was asked to have access to them."

Government and private industry experts
The event will gather more than 350 industry experts and enjoys a high level of government support, which apart from Petrobras, includes the Energy Research Company, Nacional Agency for Oil, Natural Gas and Biofuels, House of Representatives, Espirito Santo's State Government, Department of Energy, National Development Bank, National Agency of Waterway Transportation, Brazilian Marine, Superintendence of Ports and Waterways.

Says Bruno Araújo: "along with key issues related to the sector's rules and financing challenges, Pre-Salt Brazil Congress will also cover technical topics regarding subsea technologies for E&P, Oil & Gas transportation, safety, risk management, environmental care, floating units management and fleet expansion - amongst others, giving a full view of the sector, its challenges, opportunities, threats and most important executive discussions."

Leading private oil and gas operators and industry suppliers who will be there are amongst others, Caixa, HRB, Wärtsilä, FloaTEC, Villares Metals, Baker Hughes and KPMG.

High-level government speakers who will be at the Pre-Salt Brazil Congress include:
* Magda Chambriard - Director - Nacional Oil Agency
* José Aníbal - Energy Secretary - Department of Energy | São Paulo
* Laelson Aparecido Martins - Sectorial Manager - PETROBRAS
* Ricardo Peixoto - President - Petrogal
* Márcio Félix - Development Secretary - Espirito Santo's State Government
* Maurício Tolmasquim - President - Energy Research Company
* Fernando Fialho - Managing Director - National Agency of Waterway Transportation

Event dates : 26-28 September 2011
Location: Centro de Convenções SulAmérica, Avenida Paulo de Frontin com Avenida Presidente Vargas - Cidade Nova - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Website: www.brazilpresaltconference.com

Pre-Salt Brazil Congress is part of Clarion Events, the UK's largest independent events company with annual turnover of over £150m, drawing upon over 80 years of experience of hosting strategic conferences conferences and seated events across Britain, Europe, North and South America, Africa, Middle East and Asia. Our events, business-to-business and business-to-consumer, serve 15 different market sectors from leisure and entertainment to finance, from retail to gaming and from fine art to energy.

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This release was published on openPR.