Brazil’s Petrobras Invests US$ 112 Bi to Be Among World’s Top Five in Energy

Petrobras headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Brazil's government-controlled oil company Petrobras announced plans to invest 112 billion US dollars in production, exploration and related activities in Brazil and overseas during the next five years.

Petrobras president José Sérgio Gabrielli said US$ 65 billion will go into exploration and production and the bulk of investments, US$ 97 billion are to be spent in Brazil and US$ 15 billion overseas.

However, although the investments detailed under the 2008-2012 plan represent an increase of 29% over the 87.1 billion in the 2007-2011 plan announced last year, the company set production targets lower.

Petrobras said it expected oil and gas output in Brazil to rise to 3.455 million barrels of oil equivalent a day in 2015, while the previous plan placed 2014 overall output at 4.556 million barrels a day. But the company gave no reason for the lower production targets.

Petrobras aims to refine 2.061 million barrels a day in 2012, hoping to use 90% of Brazilian oil in its domestic refineries. That is up from 1.746 million barrels a day in 2006. In 2015, Petrobras aims to process 2.659 million barrels a day in Brazil.

Including overseas refineries, Petrobras aims to process 2.409 million barrels a day in 2012, and 3.007 million barrels a day in 2015. That is up from a total of 1.871 million barrels a day processed in 2006.

Petrobras underlined that most of the planned investment, some 104 billion US dollars, will come out of its current resources.

In bio-fuels, Petrobras wants to lead the Brazilian production of bio-diesel, widen its participation in ethanol and become a global player in biofuels trading.

Gabrielli also announced a strategic plan to make Petrobras one of the five biggest integrated energy companies of the world by 2020. Petrobras leading position target has so far been limited to Latinamerica.

"The company intends to rank among the world's five largest – and one of the favorites – in the field of integrated energy by 2020", confirmed Gabrielli.

"We will compete with the private sector, because we do not yet need government support to compete. Obviously, once we affect private interests, we will be accused of being state protected. We are acting as a competitive company, in a competitive environment, defined by the Brazilian Petroleum Bill".

However the president of the Federation of Industries from the State of Rio de Janeiro (Firjan), Eduardo Eugênio Gouvêa Vieira, criticized the possibility of the oil sector being dominated by the state-owned company, especially in the petrochemical field.

"Petrobras is centralizing, and this issue must be discussed by Congress. Petrobras has a larger share now than it did in 1992. It owns 40% of the largest company in the sector, which is Braskem, and now it bought Suzano. Thus, it dominates the petrochemical market, in terms of percentage", he insisted.

Mercopress

Tags:

You May Also Like

Strong Real and High Interest Rates Harm Brazil’s Car Production

Brazilian auto output and sales slumped in October, as high interest rates and a ...

Stop Treating Brazil as a Colony in Need of Civilization Lessons!

Legend has it that, while surrounding Madrid with his troops during the Spanish Civil ...

Visions of Lower Interest Rates Push Brazil Up

Brazilian and Latin American markets posted another round of impressive gains, building on yesterday’s ...

Let’s Speak of Brazilian Flowers and Mulattas

In the 60s, my mother, a countryside primary education school teacher, who little or ...

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez

Brazilian Congress Calls Chavez Cheap Hitler and Threat to Peace

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ...

BBC’s World Poll Shows Brazil and US Tied on Global Popularity

Views of Brazil are now predominantly positive in all but two of the countries ...

Nowadays, the US Doesn’t Even Need to Meddle in Brazil to Get Its Due

Rumors that Lula’s 2002 presidential campaign got money from foreign countries are old news. ...

Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva talks about biotechnology

“Never Again Supplier of Raw Material.” Vows Brazil’s Lula

Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, signed a decree yesterday, February 8, outlining ...

Highways in Brazil: a Dead-end Road

Anyone entering a car, truck, or bus and driving on the Brazilian highways knows ...

Brazil’s Failing Popular Housing Program Shows a Government Out of Touch with Reality

In 2011 it became increasingly apparent that the Brazilian property market is unlikely to ...