SEAL Gas Pipeline

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This article is part of the Global Fossil Infrastructure Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

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The SEAL Gas Pipeline is a proposed natural gas pipeline off the Atlantic coast of northeastern Brazil.

Location

The proposed pipeline would run west from the offshore post-salt fields of Brazil's Sergipe-Alagoas (SEAL) Basin to a connection with the TAG pipeline system near the Atalaia Natural Gas Processing Unit in Aracaju (Sergipe state).

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Project Details

• Operator: Petrobras
• Parent Company: Petrobras
• Capacity: 18 million cubic meters per day)
• Length: 131 km
• Diameter: 18 inches
• Status: Proposed
• Start Year: 2028
• Cost: R$2.3 billion

Background

The proposed SEAL pipeline was originally announced as an 106-kilometer, 24-inch pipeline with an estimated development cost of R$ 3.1 billion (3.1 billion Brazilian reais) and the capacity to transport 20 million cubic meters of natural gas per day from the post-salt fields of the Sergipe-Alagaos basin to an onshore gas processing facility on the coast of Sergipe state. The main proposal, known as SEAL-A, would bring gas to the existing Atalaia Natural Gas Processing Unit in Aracaju, Sergipe. An alternative proposal, known as SEAL-B, called for transporting gas to a new, larger processing facility to be constructed near the port of Sergipe.

A November 2021 update of the Brazilian government's offshore gas infrastructure plan continued to list both variants of the SEAL pipeline as active projects, noting that they were both still in the "initial studies" phase.

In June 2022, Petrobras and the government of Sergipe agreed to jointly seek long-term contracts with power plants and other industrial customers who would purchase gas from the SEAL pipeline. However, Petrobras offered no projected commissioning date or other details about the pipeline.

A fossil gas infrastructure expansion study released in December 2022 by the Brazilian government listed the SEAL pipeline as one of six high priority pipelines to be developed during the 2022-2032 period.

As of February 2024, Petrobras was soliciting bid proposals for two FPSOs (floating, production, storage, and offloading vessels) associated with the offshore oil and gas blocks that would feed the pipeline. The Brazilian government released two new reports in 2024 showing modified dimensions for the pipeline, which was now described as comprising 131 km of 18-inch pipe, with at least 104 km running offshore and 23 km on land. The pipeline was to be fed with gas from the Cavala, Agulhinha, Agulhinha Oeste, Palombeta, Budião, Budião Sudeste e Budião Noroeste offshore fields. Gas would be processed via an offshore processing unit, thereby allowing a direct connection with Brazil's onshore gas transport network.