Category Archives: Offshore

The verification of offshore oil and gas assets against applicable codes, standards and regulations is a key process in safety regimes worldwide as it provides assurance that offshore installations can be expected to perform safely and reliably.

A new study from LRs Field Survey Group (FSG) explores the concept of Next Generation Verifiers and encourages verifiers/surveyors to step back and re-evaluate their role to improve the quality of their service. The study also critically examines risk-based verification regimes and encourages the improvement of internal assurance processes, so that duty holders can confidently self-regulate themselves, look for blind spots, and use Independent Verification Bodies (IVBs), like LR, to their full potential.

The introduction of a risk-based verification regime in the UK was a crucial development following the Piper Alpha disaster in 1988. This regime requires the proactive role of the operators/owners of offshore installations to prevent and mitigate Major Accident Hazards (MAHs). Despite the systematic framework and verification process, the regime is still reactive and does not deliver the goals of the UK Offshore Safety Case Regulations (OSCRs), with multiple case studies, hydrocarbon leaks, and regulators enforcement notices suggesting that MAHs can still happen within the existing assurance process.As an independent verifier, LR has been working on a process to enhance the execution methodology of the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) offshore verification regime. While not changing the system, the aim is to encourage owners/operators and IVBs to look more closely at what they are trying to achieve, and by doing so they can introduce more effective work practices, providing an added benefit to their operations.

Following extensive research and reflecting on LRs survey experience, FSG Team Lead Irfan Nawaz has produced the study, titled Next Generation Verifiers, in collaboration with Liverpool John Moore University. The aim of the study is to ensure that the verification process remains proactive, improving internal assurance processes, ensuring safe operations and meeting OSCRs requirements.

This is the first study to document and validate the barriers impacting the effective implementation of the verification process. Findings suggest the continuous monitoring of these barriers throughout the verification cycle is required, as when used properly, IVBs are capable of identifying the weak signals of a major accident event a best friend to the offshore industry which faces hazards on a daily basis. The strengths of next-generation verifiers are also highlighted in the study, along with training and development areas leading to a proposed proactive verification process.

The study presents a Bayesian Network model to evaluate the availability of the safety and environmental critical elements (SECEs), assisting duty holders to demonstrate compliance of SECEs. LR software application, V-Connect is introduced as the biggest data source of IVBs recommendations and data analysis reports are being generated for duty holders. Toolkits are provided to the IVBs and duty holders to assess the root cause of continuous degraded SECEs, and a high-level framework is presented to evaluate management issues impacting SECEs.

Short and long-term cost benefits can be achieved through enhancing the safety, reliability and availability of SECEs by effectively implementing the proposed next-generation verifiers framework. The framework represents a significant step in supporting duty holders to mature and deliver verification in a cost-effective manner.

The desired results of a proactive risk-based regime have not been achieved so far and therefore, change is necessary. This change is an ongoing process and this study forms part of a bigger cycle, which includes developing next-generation verifiers, improving assurance processes and eliminating repeated failures.

Author of the study, Irfan Nawaz, said: Globally, I have experienced a few inspirational stories: an Irish duty holder demonstrates the will and commitment to implement the verification regime towards the end of field life; a Cyprus regulator educates their inspectors to implement the EU directive while inspecting first oil and gas exploration in the country; and the Nigerian offshore workforce is keen to learn the different facets of the risk-based regime.

These inspirational stories and many more provide positive indications that risk-based regimes will be strengthened in years to come and implemented in many more countries. In order to continue to inspire the global stakeholders, the regime should continue to evolve with the new challenges and embrace the change. Perhaps, this is the right time to introduce a global forum of IVBs. This will improve collaboration and knowledge sharing among IVBs, and benefit the offshore oil and gas industry, offshore workforce, duty holders, regulators and legislators. The study aims to be the true reflection of a risk-based regime. The researchers, regulators, duty holders and IVBs reflections of this study will only strengthen our belief in the regime. I am positive that the UK offshore risk-based regime will have a bigger global presence, lets work together to proactively prevent major accidents.

Download the study at info.lr.org/nextgenerationsverifiers

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Making offshore safer: new ways of working to prevent major accidents. - Lloyd's Register

The jacket foundation and the topside of the Saint-Nazaire offshore substation are scheduled to depart from the Nantes Saint-Nazaire Port to the installation site in the coming several days.

The jacket foundation will leave the Nantes Saint-Nazaire Port on Saturday, 14 August.

The topside will follow soon and set off in the evening hours of 17 August, the Nantes Saint-Nazaire Port said.

The four pin piles that will support the jacket foundation were installed at the site by DEME Offshore in April.

Saint-Nazaire, also known as Parc du Banc de Gurande, will comprise 80 GE Haliade 150-6MW turbines and the offshore substation installed between 12 and 20 kilometres off the coast of the Gurande peninsula.

The 480 MW project is scheduled to be operational in the summer of 2022 when it will become the first commercial-scale wind farm installed in French waters.

A consortium of Atlantique Offshore Energy, GE Grid Solutions and Socit de Dragage International (SDI), part of DEME Group,wonthe EPCI contractfor the Saint-Nazaire electrical offshore substation in June 2019.

The wind farm is developed by Eolien Maritime France (EMF), a consortium of EDF Renouvelables, Enbridge, and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

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France's First Offshore Substation Preps For Final Journey - Offshore WIND

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US Wind announces developments, expansion in Maryland offshore wind project - MyEasternShoreMD

By Dominic Chopping

Danish renewable energy company Orsted AS on Thursday posted a higher-than-expected second-quarter net profit and cautioned that it has experienced significantly lower wind speeds than normal, especially across its offshore portfolio.

The company posted a net profit of 5.54 billion Danish kroner ($874.5 million) for the quarter from a loss of DKK1.89 billion a year earlier, as revenue rose 36% to DKK13.55 billion.

A FactSet analysts' forecast had expected net profit of DKK4.78 billion on revenue of DKK14.24 billion.

Orsted backed its full-year guidance still expecting earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, excluding new partnership agreements, of between DKK15 billion and DKK16 billion.

However, the company said full-year directional guidance for its main offshore unit has changed to significantly lower from lower, mainly due to the significantly lower than normal wind speeds across its entire offshore wind portfolio which has had a DKK1.4 billion impact versus a normal year up until the end of July. Guidance had also been affected by a DKK800 million warranty provision related to the earlier identified issues with cables at some of its wind farms.

The company now expects gross investments in 2021 between DKK39 billion and DKK41 billion from DKK32 billion-DKK34 billion previously.

Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com

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Orsted 2Q Profit Beats Views; Cautions On Offshore Wind Unit - MarketWatch

rsted boosted both its operating profit and net profit in the first half of the year and retained its full-year guidance for 2021.

However, due to issues with cable protection systems and significantly lower wind speeds across its entire offshore wind portfolio, the Danish developer expects full-year Ebitda to be in the lower end of its DKK 15-16 billion (2.01-2.15 billion) guided range.

It recorded Ebitda for the first half of 2021 of DKK 13.1 billion up 34% year on year. This increase was driven by the gain of DKK 5.4 billion after selling a 50% stake in the Dutch offshore wind farm, 752MW Borssele I & II Borssele I & II (752MW) Offshoreoff Zeeland, Netherlands, Europe Click to see full details.

The growth came despite earnings from its operational offshore and onshore wind farms falling 3% to DKK 7.9 billion in the first half of the year. The increased generation capacity from its wind farms was more than offset by significantly lower wind speeds across rsteds portfolio, the developer explained.

It was also hit by several negative impacts in the UK, including higher than expected charges for using the transmission network known asTNUoS tariffs and designed to recover the cost of installing and maintaining the country's transmission system due to rsted boosting its UK wind portfolio; lower earnings from209MW Horns Rev 2 Horns Rev 2 (209MW) Offshoreoff Blvandshuk, Denmark, Europe Click to see full details as a result of the subsidy period ending in October 2020.

rsteds earnings from existing partnerships were also down in the first half of the year. In H1 2020, this figure had been boosted by high earnings from construction agreements related to the1218MW Hornsea Project One Hornsea Project One (1218MW) Offshoreoff Yorkshire, UK, Europe Click to see full details offshore wind farm, while H1 20221 was negatively impacted by a warranty provision related to cable protection system issues at some of its offshore wind farms.

Earnings from bioenergy and other businesses were in line with those from last year.

rsted recorded a net profit of DKK 7.1 billion in the first half of 2021, up from DKK 2.5 billion one year earlier. This was primarily driven by the stake sale in Borssele 1 & 2.

rsted has maintained its full-year Ebitda guidance of DKK 15-16 billion. However, due to wind speeds being significantly lower than normal across its entire offshore wind portfolio and the warranty provisions for cable protection systems, it expects this to be in the lower end of the guided range.

The company has raised its full-year gross investment guidance from DKK 32-34 billion to DKK 39-41 billion, following the completion of a deal to acquire Brookfield Renewables Irelandss onshore wind and solar portfolio in June and due to the expected acquisition of the300MW Lincoln Land Wind Lincoln Land Wind (300MW) OnshoreMorgan County, Illinois, USA, North America Click to see full details project in the US later this year.

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rsted sees profits boosted by offshore wind farm stake sale - Windpower Monthly

August 13 (Renewables Now) - Pilot Energy Limited (ASX:PGY), an Australian junior oil and gas company that aims to become a clean energy developer, will start a feasibility study for its Mid West Wind and Solar Project in Western Australia.

The company aims to use its assets to cornerstone the development of projects potentially including offshore and onshore wind, solar, green and blue hydrogen, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and other infrastructure in the Mid West and South West regions of Western Australia.

The Mid West Wind and Solar Project feasibility study is expected to cost about AUD 900,000 (USD 662,000/EUR 564,000) and Pilot has engaged three consults to conduct it over a period of six months.

The study will look into the integration of offshore and onshore wind and solar projects with existing assets and infrastructure to provide competitive clean energy, Pilot said on Thursday. It will evaluate the renewable energy resources in the Mid West region and their commercialisation via the production and sale of hydrogen, the company explained.

The consultants engaged are Genesis, part of Frances Technip Energies NV (EPA:TE), which will project manage the feasibility study, offshore wind farm development consultant Lautec AU Pty Ltd and renewable energy infrastructure developer Green Fuel Development Pty Ltd (GFD).

Pilot has secured an option to continue with a solar scheme of potentially at least 150 MW currently progressed by GFD.

Lautec, together with C2Wind ApS, will also help Pilot with an offshore wind resource baseline survey that is expected to employ a fixed LiDAR system.

The news follows shareholder approval earlier in August of Pilot's AUD-8 million equity capital raise.

(AUD 1 = USD 0.735/EUR 0.626)

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Pilot Energy to study feasibility of offshore, onshore wind and solar in WA - Renewables Now

HOUSTON, Aug. 11, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- W&T Offshore, Inc. (NYSE: WTI) (W&T or the Company) today announced that the Company will be participating in two upcoming investor conferences.

The Company will participate in EnerCom, Inc.s The Oil and Gas Conference in Denver, Colorado where Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Tracy W. Krohn is scheduled to make a presentation on Tuesday, August 17th at 4:00 pm Mountain Time. Senior management will also host one-on-one meetings with investors that day. The presentation will be webcast live and archived on W&Ts website, http://www.wtoffshore.com, in the Investors section. An updated investor slide deck will be posted in the Investors section of W&Ts website under Presentations on Tuesday morning, August 17th, 2021.

The Company will also participate in the virtual Seaport Research Partners Annual Summer Investor Conference on Tuesday, August 24th, 2021 by hosting one-on-one meetings with investors and will not be making a formal presentation.

About W&T Offshore

W&T Offshore, Inc. is an independent oil and natural gas producer with operations offshore in the Gulf of Mexico and has grown through acquisitions, exploration and development. The Company currently has working interests in 41 producing fields in federal and state waters and has under lease approximately 622,000 gross acres, including approximately 435,000 gross acres on the Gulf of Mexico Shelf and approximately 187,000 gross acres in the Gulf of Mexico deepwater. A majority of the Companys daily production is derived from wells it operates. For more information on W&T, please visit the Companys website at http://www.wtoffshore.com.

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W&T Offshore to Participate in Upcoming Investor Conferences - GlobeNewswire

This week marks nine years since Australia re-introduced a policy of offshore processing for asylum seekers arriving by boat. Nine long years of a cruel, costly and ineffective policy sustained by successive governments of both major parties, despite consistently failing to meet any of its stated aims.

As we outline in a new Kaldor Centre policy brief, Cruel, costly and ineffective: the failure of offshore processing in Australia, offshore processing does not save lives, stop the boats or break the business model of people smugglers. Nor is it a benign failure.

Beyond simply not doing what it sets out to do, offshore processing carries enormous costs. There are human costs, for the men, women and children subject to immense suffering, and even to some of the people tasked with implementing it.

It also carries diplomatic costs, as Australias international reputation is tarnished. Its relationship with Pacific neighbours in Nauru and Papua New Guinea grows increasingly strained with each passing year. Then theres the ballooning economic costs for taxpayers, as billions are sunk in vain into a disastrous policy failure.

That no Australian government in almost a decade has successfully brought this policy to a formal close is astonishing, and it demands interrogation.

Read more: With billions more allocated to immigration detention, it's another bleak year for refugees

The governments own data on the impact of offshore processing on boat arrivals is the starkest revelation of this policys failure. During its first year, more people sought asylum in Australia by boat than at any other time since boat arrivals were first recorded in the 1970s. Deaths at sea also continued at broadly comparable rates to previous years.

People continued to seek safety in Australia via maritime routes until they physically could not do so anymore. The 2013 launch of Operation Sovereign Borders, and the Abbott governments commitment to intercepting and returning people trying to reach Australia by boat no matter the legal and humanitarian consequences effectively rendered it futile to try and reach Australia by sea.

Despite early suggestions offshore processing was a vital complement to this turning back of boats, there is no evidence that this is so.

In fact, while offshore processing has formally remained on foot, and popular rhetoric gives the impression that it is still a key part of the matrix of border security measures necessary to keep the boats stopped, Australia ceased transferring new arrivals offshore in 2014.

Instead, Australian officials have gone to extraordinary lengths to intercept at sea and return hundreds of asylum seekers in recent years.

What this means is that transfers offshore occurred for less than two years. The following seven years have been spent in a prolonged and costly policy bind, as successive Labor and Coalition governments have tried to find solutions outside Australia for people who should have been settled here long ago.

Meanwhile almost everyone still subject to this policy is back in Australia, having been either returned following a policy change in July 2013 or medically evacuated amid spiralling health crises offshore from 2017.

According to latest figures, there are barely more than 100 asylum seekers left in each of Nauru and Papua New Guinea. The men and women in Nauru are living in the community. The men in Papua New Guinea are in the capital, Port Moresby, having been transferred there following the closure of the Manus Island detention centre in 2017.

The reason given publicly for continuation of this policy that offshore processing is necessary to prevent a resurgence of boat arrivals has no demonstrated evidentiary basis.

When Australia previously sent asylum seekers offshore, under the Howard government, the majority of people processed offshore and found to be refugees were settled in Australia.

This fact did not prompt an increase in boat arrivals. More recently, there was no spike in boat arrivals when Australia announced that people offshore would be eligible for resettlement in the United States, or when almost everyone was moved back to Australia.

We have just over a thousand asylum seekers here in Australia, and a small number offshore, who have been put through significant trauma in a failed attempt to send a harsh deterrence message to others who might consider trying to reach Australia by boat.

They have been waiting years for a solution, when a simple one is available right now.

All should be permitted to settle permanently in Australia or another appropriate country, provided that alternative is voluntary. Serious consideration should be given to what reparation and rehabilitation Australia may owe the victims of offshore processing.

This deeply flawed policy must not be permitted to reach its ten-year mark.

Read more: Could the Biden administration pressure Australia to adopt more humane refugee policies?

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Cruel, costly and ineffective: Australia's offshore processing asylum seeker policy turns 9 - The Conversation AU

Southern California anglers have a lot to choose from in targeting species on the offshore fishing grounds and deciding what species you want to target will likely dictate where you choose to go fishing. If you choose to target bluefin tuna, your likely destination will be at an offshore bank in U.S. waters between the 9 Mile Bank and the Catalina area. Offshore banks in this sector are mostly holding big numbers of bluefin tuna and that might also produce yellowtail, dorado, or yellowfin tuna.

Your other choice for a day of offshore fishing is to head into Mexican waters and fish offshore banks between the Ensenada and Punta Colnett regions. If you head down this way, you are heading into a prime kelp paddy yellowtail fishing zone that might also produce a few dorado, yellowfin tuna, or bluefin tuna. Last week you could get into the good yellowtail fishing at some of the local offshore banks outside of Los Coronado Islands but at the time of this writing, boats are having to travel further down the line to fish the waters outside of Ensenada and below to get into the good yellowtail fishing.

The yellowtail under the kelp paddies has included fish up to 30 pounds with most of the yellowtail falling within the 14 to 20-pound range. A recent catch included large yellowtail posted by Condor out of Fishermans Landing that had 37 anglers on a 1.5-day trip catch 1 dorado and 185 yellowtail that went up to 30 pounds. Productive yellowtail areas have been in the zone ranging from 5 to 10 miles southwest of the Banda Bank on down to where you are fishing to the southwest of the Peanut Bank. This has you fishing from 60 to 90 miles 155 to 160 degrees from Point Loma.

Bluefin tuna have ranged in size from 15 to 270-plus pounds with most falling within the 30 to 140-pound range. Much of the bluefin action originates from stopping alongside spots of breaking fish and trying to cast poppers, Colt Snipers, or surface iron to the breaking fish before they sound. There has also been some action that originates from stopping on sonar marks or meter marks. When fishing fish found with the electronics there have been some bluefin biting on sardines and mackerel while slow trolling, flylining, or fishing with rubber band rigged sinker rigs. There have also been bluefin biting while drifting over marks and using kite-fished frozen flying fish, kite-fished live sardines, kite-fished live mackerel, knife jigs, or Flat Fall jigs. There are occasional bluefin caught on the troll while using kite trolled Yummy Flyers, trolled cedar plugs, and trolled spreader bar rigs. There are some bluefin biting during non-daylight hours and Flat Fall jigs and knife jigs have been working best when dropped down to marks found in the dark.

Generally listed from north to south, areas, where good numbers of bluefin are currently being found, are the region of the 14 Mile Bank, the end of the Steamer Lane below the 14 Mile Bank, the 277 Spot, the area 3 to 5 miles off Dana Point, the 267 Spot, the 289 Spot, the 209 Spot, the 312 Spot, the 181 Spot, the 138 Spot, the 182 Spot, the area 12 to 20 miles west to southwest of La Jolla, the 178 Spot and the upper end of the 9 Mile Bank.

As talked about in the paragraph above, the bluefin are widespread and you never know when and where you might encounter an area of bluefin. A prime example was a recent day of fishing that saw the bluefin appear out of nowhere in the Carlsbad and Oceanside area. Captain Joe Cacciola of the Sea Star with Sea Star Sportfishing and the Oceanside Sea Center reported that Oceanside Sea Center boats unexpectedly had a day of fishing where they got into good bluefin action on local half and three-quarter day trips. Cacciola said that the area of fish was holding about 3 miles off the coast and was first found in the morning in the area above the Carlsbad Power Plant. Cacciola said that the fish moved steadily up the coast during the day to where boats were fishing them off Box Canyon at the end of the day.

Oceanside Sea Center boats took advantage of the sudden appearance of bluefin and they had Chubasco II out on a morning half-day trip with 20 anglers catch 10 bluefin tuna. Pronto was also out on a morning half-day trip with 7 anglers who caught 3 bluefin tuna. Southern Cal was out on a three-quarter day trip and had a catch of 2 bluefin tuna and 25 rockfish. The bluefin was reported to be good sized fish that included fish that were up over 60 pounds.

There has been a bit of striped marlin activity in both the Catalina and San Diego regions. The past Saturday saw 3 marlin bites being reported up by Catalina in the area of the 14 Mile Bank, the area off Avalon, and in the region of the 152 Spot. Private boater Captain Louie Zimm of the Shearwater reported doing some kelp paddy hopping for yellowtail on a recent trip to the 425 Bank below Los Coronado Islands. Zimm said that while fishing a kelp paddy that he unexpectedly hooked a striped marlin on a sardine that was being fished with a 40-pound test and no leader. Zimm got the marlin alongside the boat and was reaching for his gloves to be able to grab the bill and release the fish when the line wore through where it had been rubbing against the marlins bill. That was an easy release!

The surface fishing at Los Coronado Islands has been good for a mix of calico bass, barracuda, bonito, and yellowtail along with a chance at a bluefin tuna. The best areas for mixed bag surface fishing have been the Middle Grounds, the north end of South Island, the Ribbon Kelp, and the South Kelp. Yellowtail has been located by finding sonar marks, meter marks, spots of fish up on the surface, trolling strikes on deep diving Rapalas, and trolling strikes on slow trolled sardines. Good choices for surface iron that work well for yellowtail and barracuda include Salas 7X lights and Tady 45s in blue and white, mint and sardine colors.

Private boater John Carroll of Huachinango reported about his friend Mark Scott taking Huachinango to Los Coronado Islands and finding very good mixed bag fishing for yellowtail, bonito, barracuda, and calico bass. Carroll reported that Scott first started getting action on slow trolled sardines while fishing the Ribbon Kelp area in the lee of South Island. The Ribbon Kelp produced 2 yellowtail and Carroll said that Scott ended up finding his best fishing further up the inside of South Island while slow trolling sardines in the area between the Cove and the north end of South Island. Carroll said that Scott caught yellowtail, bonito, barracuda, and calico bass in that zone and that it was non-stop action.

Carroll said that Scott ended up with 4 yellowtail and lost another 3 or 4 yellowtail hookups. The water conditions were nice and the water was at 69 degrees. The fish were readily biting the slow trolled sardines that were being fished on a 25-pound test line.

The fishing along the San Diego County coast has been steady for a mixed bag of calico bass, sand bass, barracuda, bonito, reds, rockfish, whitefish, sculpin, and sheephead along with a chance at yellowtail or halibut.

Calico bass have been providing the best surface fishing along the San Diego County coast and productive kelp bed and hard bottom areas for calico bass have been the hard bottom to the northwest of Buoy #3 at Point Loma, the Dropoff at Point Loma, the 5 Tanks at Point Loma, the Green Tank at Point Loma, Point Loma College, the upper end of La Jolla, Del Mar, Solana Beach, Leucadia, South Carlsbad, and the Barn.

Sand bass fishing in the Imperial Beach area continues to be inconsistent but has shown an overall improvement in recent days. The best sand bass fishing has been coming from meter marks found over hard bottom areas with sand bass also biting at the Imperial Beach Pipeline and from an occasional meter mark found over sandy bottom.

The yellowtail fishing along the San Diego area coast continues to be difficult with the upper end of La Jolla providing the best chance at coastal yellowtail. The yellowtail activity at La Jolla has shown some improvement in recent days so anglers have reason to be optimistic that better yellowtail fishing could soon be coming to coastal waters. The barracuda and bonito fishing along the coast has been hit or miss but there have been occasional flurries of barracuda and bonito at the upper end of La Jolla. One of the better recent fish counts from La Jolla was aboard New Seaforth out of Seaforth Sportfishing that had 38 anglers on a half-day trip catch 15 bonito, 62 calico bass, 3 rockfish, and 3 yellowtail.

Productive hard bottom and structure areas for the reds, rockfish, whitefish, and lingcod are the Imperial Beach Pipeline, the International Reef, the Whistler Buoy and the Dropoff outside of Point Loma, the Green Tank at Point Loma, The 270 out to the west of Mission Bay, the upper end of La Jolla, the ridge outside of Del Mar and at hard bottom areas off South Carlsbad, Leucadia and Box Canyon.

The summer fishing season has a lot to offer, be it offshore, at the local islands, or along the coast. Anglers are hoping to see better numbers of warm water offshore species such as yellowfin tuna, dorado, and striped marlin move into local offshore waters during the months of August and September and time will tell if those hopes will ring true. Enjoy the summer fishing season while it is here! Keep on fishing and I hope to see you out on the water sometime soon!

Bob Vanian is the voice, writer, and researcher of the San Diego-based internet fish report service called 976-Bite which can be found at http://www.976bite.com. Vanian also provides anglers with a personal fish report service over the telephone at (619) 226-8218. He always welcomes your fish reports at that same phone number or at bob976bite@aol.com.

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Bluefin, Yellowfin, Yellowtail, Dorado and Marlin on the Offshore Menu! The Log - The Log Newspaper

HOUSTON, Aug. 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --Apex-Brasil (The Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency) is organizing a press meeting during this year's Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) to highlight the impressive growth in Brazilian oil and gas production and development, including in natural gas. The press meeting is taking place Monday, August 16th, CST 3:45 pm and will feature remarks from Brazil's top oil and gas experts, including Petrobras CEO Joaquim Silva e Luna, Brazilian Minister of Mines and Energy Bento Albuquerque, Brazil's National Petroleum Agency (ANP) General Director Rodolfo Saboia, and Roberto Escoto, Managing Director at Apex-Brasil.

During the press meeting session, the industry leaders and the subject matter experts will cover many opportunities for investors interested in Brazil. Those opportunities include energy and oil and gas areas, including the upcoming October 2021 auction of 92 blocks that comprise Campos, Pelotas, Potiguar, and Santos Basins, and the December 2021 auction of the Brazil-based Atapu and Spia pre-salt fields. The December auction alone, which is estimated to be one of the largest in history, is expected to drive investments of USD 38.3 billion by 2050 and account for 15% of the national oil output in the country by 2030. The speakers will explain why Brazil is a key growth market for investors to watch in this sector. Consider that the total production of 3.1 million barrels per day (or 2.8% of the world total) is expected to reach 5.3 million barrels a day by 2030 due to a full calendar of competitive auctions, which would position Brazil as a top-five oil producer in the world.

"Brazil is ready to grow production and take a leading position in the oil and gas sector. This will be made possible by new investments in mature fields, development of pre-salt fields, offshore blocks in the exploratory phase, and a calendar of new auctions," said Escoto, Managing Director at Apex-Brasil. "We are the leading oil producer in Latin America, the 10th producer globally, and the seventh largest consumer market for oil products and service. The opportunities for investors continue exponentially increasing. I'm excited to be joined next week by the top officials from Brazil to discuss how our country is offering unparalleled opportunities for international investors in this sector and how we're looking to expand our leadership even further this year."

"In Brazil, opportunities in onshore and offshore exploration and production (E&P), including pre-salt areas, are set to catapult our energy sector to new heights over the next decade," continued Bento Albuquerque Minister of Mines and Energy. "There is an abundance of natural resources in Brazil, and we have a government-level strategy in place to privatize the entire sector to drive demand and production upwards, from the pre-salt fields to natural gas to electric infrastructure. I'm personally looking forward to discussing some of the upcoming opportunities for investors in this capacity during OTC."

OTC is an annual event held at NRG Park in Houston, Texas, convening international leaders in the energy and oil and gas sector to highlight the latest in technology and knowledge of offshore resources. In addition to hosting this press meeting on the opening day of OTC, with a virtual and in-person element, representatives from Apex-Brasil will be present at the Brazilian Pavilion on the OTC trade show floor. Apex-Brasils representatives will facilitate meaningful discussions and forge partnerships that further solidify this promising sector in the country. Apex-Brasil is also offering a free online business platform where international companies can meet the 33 Brazilian companies that will be participating in the event this year. Of these companies, 23 of them will be showcasing sample machinery and equipment at the Brazilian Pavilion, located at booth 718.

Journalists interested in attending the press meeting should contact Apex-Brasil's U.S. PR agency at ApexBrasilUSTeam@ruderfinn.com to register. To learn more about Brazil's oil and gas sector, please visit https://investinbrasil.com.br/en/oil-gas. For more information on Apex-Brasil, please visit http://www.apexbrasil.com.br/en/home.

About Apex-Brasil

The Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) works to promote Brazilian products and services abroad and attract foreign investment to strategic sectors of the Brazilian economy. Apex-Brasil organizes several initiatives aiming to promote Brazilian exports abroad. The Agency's efforts comprise trade and approaching missions, business rounds, support for the participation of Brazilian companies in major international trade fairs, arrangement of technical visits of foreign buyers and opinion makers to learn about the productive Brazilian structure, and other select activities designed to strengthen the country's branding abroad. Apex-Brasil also plays a leading role in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) to Brazil, identifying business opportunities, and promoting strategic events. Apex-Brasil also lends support to foreign investors willing to allocate resources in Brazil. Apex-Brasil is an agency linked to the Brazilian Foreign Ministry (Itamaraty).

Media Contact

Emily Steates

Ruder Finn PR on behalf of Apex-Brasil in the U.S.

Emily.Steates@ruderfinn.com

+1 212-583-2759

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SOURCE Apex-Brasil

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Apex-Brasil Press Meeting at 2021 Offshore Technology Conference to Spotlight Opportunities for Foreign Direct Investors in Brazil's Oil and Gas...