Petrobras expects to close up to five asset sales before the change of government

In a meeting with the management of Petrobras this Tuesday (8), the team that coordinates the transition to the energy area of ​​the new government was informed that the state-owned company expects to conclude by the end of the year five more asset sales processes that are in progress. final stage of negotiations.

Another 50 processes will remain for reassessment by the next management of the state-owned company, as the transition team wanted.

In a meeting this Wednesday, the elected government team also questioned the state-owned company’s budget for energy transition areas and for the search for new oil reserves.

The members of the transition group had asked Petrobras’ board of directors to suspend negotiations for the sale of assets, claiming that there is little time left for the change of government. Exceptions would be processes at an advanced stage of negotiations.

Shortly after the request, Petrobras announced the closing of two operations: the sale of the Manaus refinery to the Atem group and the sale of 5% of the Búzios field, the largest oil reserve in the country, to the Chinese CNOOC.

The announcements were made on the same day that Petrobras disclosed its investment plan for the next five years, which expects to raise between US$ 10 billion and US$ 20 billion (R$ 52 billion to R$ 104 billion) with divestments.

The processes that should be closed later this year involve the transfer of oil and gas fields to the private sector. In recent years, the state-owned company has been getting rid of projects on land or shallow waters to focus its investments on the pre-salt layer.

In a note, the transition group only said that the “sale of parts of the company or businesses in which Petrobras participates” was one of the topics of the meeting. “Petrobras has provided information on the remaining steps in some ongoing projects.”

With regard to the investment plan for the next five years, which provides for contributions of US$ 78 billion (R$ 410 billion), the elected government group reinforced questions about the company’s strategy for the energy transition, which focuses only on the decarbonization of activities.

For the new government, business diversification, with investments in renewables, “is essential to ensure the company’s sustainability in the long term based on the assessment of horizons with new energy sources”.

Petrobras foresees US$ 4.4 billion (R$ 23 billion) to “strengthen the low carbon positioning”, investments in biorefining and research and development of new technologies. Most of the money will go towards decarbonization.

The company has defined that it will research opportunities in wind energy at sea, hydrogen and carbon capture, but has not yet defined investment projects in these segments.

The plan foresees around R$ 30 billion for the search for new oil reserves over the next five years. Almost half of this total will be destined for the so-called equatorial margin, the coast that goes from Ceará to Amapá.

Oil exploration in the region, however, is the target of protests by environmentalists, who mainly fear damage to corals in the area of ​​the mouth of the Amazon River, a move that led the French oil company Total to sell local concessions to Petrobras.

The basins in the Southeast region will also receive almost half of the resources and a small portion will be allocated to activities in Colombia. For the transition, low investments in exploration could lead to a rapid depletion of the company’s reserves.