Wilson Lima highlights the generation of 6 thousand jobs with new natural gas fields in Amazonas

Manaus (AM) — Governor Wilson Lima highlighted, this Friday (16), the generation of around 6 thousand jobs in the natural gas exploration activity in Amazonas with investments in the Azulão field and with the commercial declaration of two new exploration fields in the municipalities of Silves and Itapiranga (240 and 227 kilometers from Manaus, respectively). Since the governor broke the gas market monopoly in Amazonas in 2021, the sector has gained competitiveness and has attracted new investments.

The announcement of the commerciality of the two new fields — Campo de Tambaqui and Azulão Leste — made by Eneva to the National Petroleum Agency (ANP) formalizes the end of the exploration phase and the beginning of the production development phase by the company in the areas. Eneva, which already commercially explores the Azulão field, in Silves, will present plans for the development of commercial exploration of the two new fields to the ANP.

Invited to Eneva’s announcement, Wilson Lima highlighted that of the 6 thousand new jobs in the company’s operations, up to a thousand are just with seismic campaigns for underground investigation of new fields, with private investment of up to R$350 million. Another 5,000 direct and indirect jobs will be generated with the culmination of works on the Azulão 950 complex, also in Silves, made up of two plants under construction, with private investment of R$5.8 billion.

The governor also highlighted that the ANP recognizes Amazonas as the state that has the largest onshore gas reserves in the country, around 40 billion cubic meters of proven wells, with the potential to reach 100 billion cubic meters. . According to Wilson Lima, the exploration of reserves needs to result in benefits for the population.

“The announcement that Eneva gives is the result of all the effort that has been made so that we can effectively have a safe economic matrix”,

said the governor.

“When we talk about job creation, we are not just talking about those jobs that are being generated directly and indirectly by this enterprise, but there are those jobs that are induced”, he added.

On the occasion, the governor also highlighted the advance in the use of natural gas in homes, industries and vehicles, surpassing more than 17.4 thousand contracted consumer units (CUs); six gas stations operating with vehicular natural gas (CNG); and the natural gas distribution network (RDGN), which is already 281 kilometers long, covering more than 20 neighborhoods in the capital.

Wilson Lima also recalled the break in the natural gas monopoly carried out, in 2021, by sanctioning the Gas Law, authored by the Government of Amazonas and approved by the State Legislative Assembly (Aleam), establishing a new legal framework for the distribution service and commercialization and presenting itself as a new alternative economic matrix for the state, parallel to the Manaus Free Trade Zone.

Participating in the event announcing new investments in the natural gas sector were vice-governor Tadeu de Souza; state deputy Sinésio Campos, who chairs Aleam’s Geodiversity, Water Resources, Mines, Gas, Energy and Sanitation Commission; Eneva’s exploration director, Frederico Miranda; and state secretaries such as Economic Development, Science, Technology and Innovation (Sedecti), Serafim Corrêa; of Environment (Sema), Eduardo Taveira; and Energy, Mining and Gas (Semig), Rooney Peixoto.

“What Governor Wilson Lima did today, declaring commerciality, together with Eneva, is to consolidate this economic alternative to the Manaus Industrial Pole. So, today we have natural gas as a process, the construction of an economic alternative for the state, in addition to contributing to sustainability, as gas is one of the elements for the energy transition”,

stated Semig secretary, Ronney Peixoto.

Eneva

The largest private operator of natural gas on Brazilian land and an integrated energy company, Eneva already operates in the Azulão field, in Silves, where the extracted natural gas is liquefied and taken in cryogenic trailers to Boa Vista (RR), where it is responsible for 70% of the supply of the only capital not connected to the National Interconnected System (SIN) through the Jaguatirica II thermoelectric plant.

The Azulão 950 Project consists of the installation of two natural gas thermoelectric plants (UTEs) in Silves, using fuel from the Amazon Basin. With an installed capacity of 950MW and drainage to be carried out by the SIN, the energy generated will be enough to supply more than 3.7 million homes across Brazil, from the end of 2026.

With the new fields, the milestone of the first commercial discovery of oil and natural gas in the State in the last 20 years is established, as the last time this happened was in 2004, when Petrobras declared the Azulão Field commercial.

“It is contributing to the socioeconomic development of such a rich region, which is finally beginning to have its own voice, and bringing socioeconomic development to the poorest regions of the country, as we did in Maranhão more than 15 years ago. We come to replicate this story of social development with the management of natural gas for a clean, safe energy transition and, above all, guarantee Brazil’s energy security”,

said Eneva’s exploration director, Frederico Miranda.

The Declaration of Commerciality is a notification made by the concessionaire (in this case, Eneva) to the ANP announcing the commercial condition of one or more deposits discovered in the concession or sharing area, and, consequently, confirming the intention to develop it. The formal and mandatory act marks the end of the Exploration phase and the beginning of the Production Development phase of an area.

From the Declarations of Commerciality, the company has up to 180 days to present the Field Development Plans to the ANP, which detail the activities to be carried out to monetize the commercial discoveries.

Cetam Silves

With the technical cooperation agreement signed in October 2023, between the Government of Amazonas and Eneva, Silves will have a Gas and Energy Technical Training School at the Amazonas Technological Education Center (Cetam).

The work is carried out by the company, as a social contribution, at the Agobar Garcia State School and already has more than 50 people from Silves hired to work on the project, which has an investment of more than R$7 million and is expected to be completed at the end of May. .

*With information from consultancy

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