For two years now, Petrobras has been expanding its foreign sales of oil and derivatives. Presently, daily sales by the Brazilian state-owned oil company total approximately 200,000 barrels of oil and derivatives. The information was supplied by the director of Supply and Refinement at Petrobras, Paulo Roberto Costa.
"Those are products that we buy and sell in the foreign market without them even passing through Brazil." In his assessment, by acting as a trading company, Petrobras is seeking to climb positions and gain strength in the global oil market, taking advantage of market niches in which it can profit.
"The initiative is in keeping with our intention to operate with growing strength in the domestic market, thus verticalizing our position. We are making use of the business opportunities that emerge."
According to him, this is common practice among the world's leading oil companies. "We have been to the BP [British Petroleum] headquarters, where they have an entire store with approximately 200 people in front of computers and doing nothing but buying and selling oil and derivatives," he asserted.
Besides being and advantageous business, according to the director at Petrobras, the operation of the state-owned company in the derivatives sales segment will serve to provide the company with even greater credibility and better positioning.
"The activity gives us market positioning, makes us even better known, and gives us credibility – and trustworthiness is a very important asset in a market in which those who are buying want reassurance that they are going to receive the product," he stated.
In order to accelerate the process of intensifying activities, Petrobras is establishing offices in several countries in Europe, Central America and Asia.
More Oil
Petrobras informed that oil was discovered in deep water at the PM-S-21 block in the Santos Basin. The company is in charge of operating the block, with a 80% share in a consortium with Portuguese company Galp Energia.
The discovery was made in an exploratory well 280 kilometers (174 miles) away from the coast of the southeastern Brazilian state of São Paulo, with a water layer depth of 2,234 meters (7,329 feet). According to Petrobras, the National Petroleum Agency (ANP) was already notified of the discovery, as the regulation demands.
The company informed that the discovery was proven by means of traces of oil and profile interpretation in reservoirs located at depths of approximately 1,000 meters (3,281 feet). The company has not disclosed the potential or the initial production of the well.
This is the second discovery announced by Petrobras in the pre-salt layer of the Santos Basin. Some weeks ago, the company had already announced the discovery of the Tupi mega field, which contains estimated reserves of 8 billion barrels of oil and gas equivalent.
The pre-salt layer is comprised of reservoir-rocks located underneath a large layer of salt, ranging from the coast of the state of Espírito Santo (in the Southeast) to Santa Catarina (South), with over 800 kilometers (497 miles) of length and up to 200 kilometers (124 miles) of width, at depths ranging from 1,500 to 3,000 meters (4,921 to 9,842 feet) under water, and 3,000 to 4,000 meters (9,842 to 13,123 feet) underground.
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