Petrobras’ engineers are examining whether gas harvested from Tupi and other fields as much as 300 kilometers (186 miles) off the Rio coast can be produced into caves in a layer of hard salt that rests underneath the sea floor and directly above the oil reservoir.
The company is scheduled to declare the possibility on May 4, 2009 at the Offshore Technology Conference.
Other alternatives include construction of a floating plant to chill the gas to a liquid state so it can be hauled away on tankers or pumping the fuel back into the field to force extra crude out.
Stowing gas in salt caves underneath the ocean floor would be part of the second phase of development of Tupi and adjacent fields.
The second phase is intended to start no later than 2017.
