Route 3 Gas Pipeline

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The Route 3 Gas Pipeline, also known by its Portuguese name Gasoduto Rota 3, is a natural gas pipeline off the Atlantic coast of southeastern Brazil.

Location

From its starting point in the Santos Basin pre-salt oil and natural gas fields off Brazil's southeastern coast, the pipeline's route runs offshore for 307 km to reach the coastline at Jaconé Beach, then continues inland 48 km through the cities of Maricá e Itaboraí to the GasLub (formerly Comperj) Natural Gas Processing Unit in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil.

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Project Details

• Operator: Petrobras
• Parent Company: Petrobras (100%)
• Capacity: 635.66 MMcf/d (18 million cubic meters per day)
• Length: 355 kilometers
• Status: Operating
• Start year: 2024
• Associated infrastructure:
  • GasLub power station
  • Tupi oil and gas field
  • Búzios oil and gas field
  • Tambuatá oil and gas field

Background

The pipeline consists of a 307 km offshore section and a 48 km onshore section, designed to deliver natural gas to Petrobras's 21 Mm³/d Boaventura gas processing facility (previously known as GasLub or Comperj) in Itaboraí, Rio de Janeiro state. The pipeline originates at the Tupi oil and gas field in the Santos Basin and continues north through the Búzios and Tambuatá fields. The pipeline may eventually supply fuel for the proposed 1.8 GW GasLub power station in Itaboraí.

The pipeline was originally scheduled for completion in 2019, at an estimated cost of R $ 265 million. Brazil's environmental agency IBAMA issued an environmental permit for the 297 km deep water section of the pipeline in July 2016. Work on this section began in October 2016 and was finished in February 2018. In August 2018 IBAMA issued a separate permit for the remaining sections of the pipeline (10 km offshore along the continental shelf and 48 km onshore). Work on this section began in January 2019 and was scheduled for completion in July 2020.

In April 2020, Petrobras temporarily suspended work on the Route 3 pipeline due to concerns about workers' safety during the coronavirus pandemic.

In August 2020, the director of the consortium responsible for the pipeline's onshore segment reported that the project was practically finished, and that commercial operations would likely begin in 2021 pending completion of the associated GasLub Natural Gas Processing Unit in Itaboraí. Petrobras reported that preliminary tests on the GasLub unit were underway as of November 2020 and the project was proceeding on schedule for an anticipated 2021 commissioning date.

As of September 2021, both the pipeline and the GasLub gas processing facility in Itaboraí were expected to begin operations in 2022. In January 2022, Petrobras began operational testing at GasLub.

In March 2022, Petrobras reported that it was putting finishing touches on the pipeline's shallow water section and expected to commission the project in the second half of 2022.

In June 2022, the ultra-deepwater segment of the Route 3 pipeline, together with a portion of the pipeline's deepwater segment, began operating in a partial capacity, feeding fossil gas into the interconnected Route 2 pipeline for delivery to the Cabiunas gas treatment facility in Macaé. However, the rest of the deepwater segment, along with the shallow water and onshore segments of pipeline, remained out of service.

In July 2022, the projected date for full start-up of the Route 3 pipeline was pushed back to 2023, due to a contract dispute between Petrobras and SPE Kerui-Método, the company responsible for building the onshore natural gas processing unit. More than R$1 billion in cost overruns related to the pandemic, exchange rate fluctuations, and alterations to the project had reportedly left Kerui-Método insolvent, leading to the dismissal of more than 2,200 workers and bringing the entire Route 3 project to an indefinite halt.

A fossil gas infrastructure expansion study released in December 2022 by the Brazilian government listed the Route 3 pipeline as one of six high priority pipelines to be completed during the 2022-2032 period, with a revised start-up date of 2024. In late 2022, several other sources, including Petrobras, confirmed that the pipeline's commissioning date had slipped to 2024.

News reports in late 2023 and early 2024 indicated that the Route 3 pipeline remained on schedule for an August 2024 commissioning date, but raised concerns that volumes of gas supplied through the pipeline might be smaller than anticipated. In August 2024, Petrobras announced that startup would be delayed until September.

Start-up of commercial operation

In September 2024, Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva presided over an official inauguration ceremony for the Boaventura Gas Processing Unit and the Route 3 pipeline. The Boaventura unit, located in Itaboraí, was set to become the largest such facility in Brazil, with a processing capacity of 21 million cubic meters per day. Both the pipeline and the gas processing unit were said to be in the final pre-commissioning phase, with full commercial operations expected by early to mid-October. In November 2024, the Brazilian government announced that the entire Rota 3-Boaventura system had been placed into service.