Petrobras NEWS

In a regulatory filing, Brazilian state-run Petrobras has informed about an oil spill that occurred offshore Espirito Santo, Brazil. Approximately 188 cubic meters of oil was spilled during a routine transfer to a vessel at platform P-58 in Bacia dos Campos, Espirito Santo state. Petrobras has assured against any oil reaching the shore, which is 80 km away. The oil major is currently investigating the incident.

Chevron has eyed on the Petrobras’ 110,000 bpd refinery in Pasadena. Chevron is ready to pay $350 million to Petrobras for the same. Further, the company also wants to take the ownership of a 466-acre complex on the Houston Ship Channel. This is in line with the Chevron’s plan to own a second Gulf Coast facility after reporting an increase of 150,000-bpd in its shale production in the third quarter.

Production has commenced from the eighth platform installed in the Lula field, offshore Brazil. The BM-S-11 concession is operated by Brazilian state-owned, Petrobras where Shell and Petrogal Brasil are partners. Oil and natural gas is being produced from the P-69 FPSO in the Lula field through eight producing wells and utilising seven injection wells. Lula field entered into production phase in October 2010.

Petrobras’ subsidiary, Petrobras America Inc. and Murphy Oil Corporation’s subsidiary Murphy Exploration & Production Company have signed an agreement to form a joint venture (JV) comprised of oil producing assets in the Gulf of Mexico. Both the companies will contribute their present assets of Gulf of Mexico, with Murphy having 80% interest and PAI 20%. The production of this JV is expected to be approximately 75,000 boed in fourth-quarter 2018.

The subsea production system for Petrobras’ Mero 1 project will be supplied by Norway’s Aker Solutions. The subsea production system, which will consist of 12 vertical subsea trees, will be manufactured at the São José dos Pinhais and Rio das Ostras facility. The Norwegian energy service company is already working on the project, with deliveries scheduled for 2020. The subsea production system will be hooked up to Guanabara FPSO.

Brazilian state-owned Petrobras was yesterday charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for misleading US investors. SEC alleged that Petrobras falsely showed payments made by US investors as expenditures to "acquire and improve assets". This inflated the actual value of the Petrobras’ assets by an approximately $2.5 billion. Petrobras will pay $853 million penalty, as well as $933 million in disgorgement and prejudgment interest to settle all the charges.

Norwegian oil services company, Aker Solutions has bagged a contract from Petrobras for the oil and gas fields in the Campos basin. Under the scope of this deal, offshore production units for Campos’ basin Operational Unit (UO-BC) will be renovated, repaired and upgraded by Aker Solutions. CEO of Aker commented on this agreement and said that the company is pleased to expand its business in Brazil.

Crude oil export from Brazil climber 50% higher than 2017, hitting 8.1 million tonnes peak last month. Brazilian Government data showed nearly three times jump in Brazil’s crude shipments from June stats. State-run Petrobras began operations on the platforms in Buzios field and Tartaruga field in June. The Brazilian government refrained from commenting over the record July export statistics.

If sources were to be believed, the US unit of Petrobras has agreed to settle a lawsuit over alleged toxic emissions from its Pasadena oil refinery by paying $3.5mn. The Petrobras subsidiary will additionally pay a $350,000 penalty to the U.S. government for emitting SOx and other pollutants over permitted levels. The settlement has come at a time when the company is planning to sell the 112,229 bpd capacity refinery.

Brazilian stat-owned, Petrobras, yesterday released statistics of its oil and gas production in June. Petrobras’ total production of oil and gas, including natural gas liquids (NGL), for June, was around 2.62 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed), out of which 2.53 million boed was domestic production and 98, 000 boed production overseas.

EPC giant, TechnipFMC has entered into a 3-year long master services agreement with Brazilian oil major, Petrobras to provide subsea services in Brazil. The agreement covers technical assistance, maintenance services, inspection and end-fitting re-termination of flexible pipes and umbilicals, installation support and engineering analysis of operations and installation conditions, among other services.

Brazilian oil major, Petrobras in a statement said that its refinery output saw a hike, while a sharp decrease in crude oil exports was observed in June. Brazilian Government had to promise subsidized diesel prices to end a trucker’s strike. Adhering to the Government’s directive, Petrobras had to direct its crude supply towards refineries to produce more fuel, due to which Brazil’s crude export fell 53.8% to 2.86 Mbpd.

With a plan to invest in solar and on-shore wind projects in Brazil, oil major Petrobras, has joined forces with its strategic ally, Total and its renewable energy subsidiary, Total Eren. They have signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to analyze the possibilities of business development in solar and wind in Brazilian market which follows a strategic partnership agreement sealed by Total and Petrobras in February 2017.

An international tribunal fined Petrobras yesterday with a whopping $622 million for breaching a 2009 contract with a unit of Vantage Drilling. Petrobras found out that its executive had unduly awarded Vantage a contract, and notified Vantage in 2015 that its contract has been terminated, claiming Vantage breached terms. In return, Vantage filed an arbitration claim against PAI, PVIS and Petrobras reasoning for “wrongful termination.”

Brazilian state-owned Petrobras yesterday announced that the company had started production at the Tartaruga Verde (Green Turtle) gas field. Production began on last by means of a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit. Stating about the FPSO, Petrobras said that the unit is capable of processing daily up to 150,000 barrels of oil, 3.5 million cubic meters of gas and 5 million cubic meters of compressed gas.

Skandi Recife, a Brazilian-flagged flexible lay and construction vessel, has begun operations under its eight-year charter contract with Petrobras. The vessel is owned by the joint venture (JV) formed between TechnipFMC and DOF. TechnipFMC has to look after flexible pipelay, while DOF Subsea will be accountable for marine operations. The vessel will operate in the Campos, Santos and Espírito Santo basins.

The Brazilian oil regulators National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) has awarded Equinor exploration rights for the Uirapuru and Dois Irmãos blocks in the pre-salt area offshore Brazil. The Norwegian oil major joined forces with ExxonMobil (combined stake 28%) and Petrogal Brasil (14%) for the Uirapuru block, and with Petrobras and BP for the Dois Irmãos block. The exploration rights have added highly prospective acreage to Equinor’s exploration portfolio.

British Petroleum (BP) has signed a MoU with Petrobras for exploring areas of potential cooperation in areas of mutual interest in upstream, downstream, trading and across low carbon initiatives, inside and outside Brazil. It is expected that through this alliance, the transfer of technology will take place along with joint training and research.