Route 2 Gas Pipeline

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The Route 2 Gas Pipeline, also known by its Portuguese name Gasoduto Rota 2, is an operating natural gas pipeline off the Atlantic coast of southeastern Brazil.

Location

The pipeline runs northeast from the Tupi oil and gas field in the Santos basin off Brazil's southeastern coast, passing through the Búzios oil and gas field, reaching shore at Lagomar beach, and terminating at the Cabiúnas Gas Treatment Terminal in Macaé, Rio de Janeiro state.

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Project Details

• Operator: Petrobras
• Parent Company: Petrobras (55%), Shell (25%), Galp (10%), Repsol (10%)
• Current capacity: 20 million cubic meters per day / 7.3 billion cubic meters per year
• Length: 249 miles / 401 km
• Diameter: 24 inches
• Status: Operating
• Start Year: 2016

Background

In February 2016, Petrobras announced completion of Brazil's longest submarine gas pipeline, known as Route 2. The Route 2 pipeline can carry up to 7.3 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually from the rapidly developing Tupi offshore gas fields to the Cabiúnas Gas Treatment Terminal in Macaé, Rio de Janeiro state. From Cabiúnas, the gas gets fed into Brazil's domestic natural gas distribution network.

The Route 2 pipeline interconnects with Petrobras's Route 1 Gas Pipeline, which has been operating since 2011, bringing another 3.65 million cubic meters of natural gas annually from the Tupi field to the Monteiro Lobato Gas Treatment Unit in Caraguatatuba, São Paulo state. The Tupi field (also known as the Lula field) is located in the Santos basin, in a geological formation known as the 'pre-salt' layer, below 2126m (6975ft) of water and 2791m (9156ft) of soil, rock and salt.

Within nine months of its inauguration, the Rota 2 pipeline was already transporting 12 million cubic meters of natural gas per day, with a cumulative total of 2 billion cubic meters shipped as of November 15, 2016.

Cost of the project is listed as R$8.6 billion on Brazil's Ministry of Planning website.

In September 2019, press reports indicated that Petrobras, in consultation with pipeline co-owners Shell, Galp and Repsol, was studying a potential sale of the Route 2 pipeline together with its two other offshore pipelines (Route 1 and Route 3).

Technical description

The pipeline, operated by Petrobras, is 401 km (249 mi) long. According to a 2016 Petrobras press release, its original capacity was 13 million cubic meters of natural gas per day, but capacity has steadily expanded. In July 2019, Petrobras received authorization to increase capacity from 16 million cubic meters per day to 20 million cubic meters per day.