The Petrobras-government tussle
A deal between the state-run firm and the Brazilian government could lead to a mega bidding round
Brazil has billions of barrels of oil it has to figure out what to do with. The government and state-owned Petrobras are locked in negotiations over the fate of as much as 15bn barrels of crude in the so-called "Transfer of Rights" (Cessão Onerosa in Portuguese) area, a cluster of fields in the pre-salt. In 2010, when the government was embarking on a record-breaking sale of shares in Petrobras, it struck an agreement with the state oil company in which Petrobras paid for the right to develop and produce up to 5bn barrels of oil equivalent from the fields. At the time the agreement was signed, the price paid for such reserves was $42.5bn, around $8.50 per undeveloped barrel of oil. However,
Also in this section
24 April 2024
But even planned exploration activity is unlikely to reverse declining output from mature fields
23 April 2024
Cheaper Russian barrels and lower overall crude prices have helped cut key oil consumer’s import bills in election year
22 April 2024
Pursuing three different goals as part of the same package may mean achieving none of them
22 April 2024
Beijing’s renewed targeting of NOC management could threaten investment