Petrobras will invest US$78 billion in the next 5 years

Petrobras intends to invest US$78 billion in the next five years, according to the state-owned company’s strategic plan for the 2023 to 2027 period, released on Wednesday (Nov. 30).

The amount is 15% above the average of previous plans.

In addition to the US$78 billion, another US$20 billion will be spent on contracting platform ships for oil and natural gas production.

According to Petrobras, this represents a resumption of the pre-covid level of investments.

Petrobras’ strategic plan focuses on the oil and natural gas exploration and production sector, where 83% of total investments in the period, or US$64 billion, will be allocated.

Petrobras intends to reach production of 3.1 billion barrels per day by 2027, with 18 new platform ships entering into operation, five of which should start producing by 2023.

The Búzios field alone, on the coast of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, will receive US$23 billion, aiming to increase production, which should triple in the period.

The Campos Basin, which stretches from Rio de Janeiro to Espírito Santo, will receive US$18 billion for revitalization projects in mature fields – which have been producing for longer.

The Equatorial Margin, on the coast from Amapá to Rio Grande do Norte, should receive approximately US$3 billion in investments.

Petrobras wants to start exploring this new frontier still in 2022.

Petrobras also intends to expand the natural gas outflow infrastructure. It will inaugurate three new routes by 2027, adding more than 50 million cubic meters per day of supply capacity.

REFINING AND NATURAL GAS

Investments in refining and natural gas will be increased by about 30% compared to the previous plan for the 2022 to 2026 period. This area will receive US$9.2 billion over the next five years.

About 50% of this amount will be used in “increasing the quality and efficiency of refining,” says Petrobras. It will be used to increase the production capacity of S-10 diesel -the most used in Brazil and with lower sulfur content- and in biorefining.

There will be eight new processing units, and 6 adaptation works in existing units.

According to Petrobras, the conclusion of these projects should increase the processing capacity by 154,000 barrels per day.

The S-10 diesel production capacity should also increase to 300,000 barrels per day.

The state-owned company also intends to invest US$600 million in constructing a plant to produce aviation biokerosene and renewable diesel at RPBC (Presidente Bernardes Refinery), in Cubatão (SP).

The planned production capacity is 6,000 barrels per day of biokerosene, 6,000 barrels per day of R100 diesel (100% renewable content), and 3,000 barrels per day of other renewable-based products.

Last Friday (Nov. 25), Petrobras suffered a setback when trying to make its renewable diesel viable as biodiesel.

President Jair Bolsonaro (PL, right) vetoed the article that allowed Petrobras’ fuel to be used to comply with the mandatory addition of biodiesel to fossil diesel.

In 2021, the ANP (National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency) published a resolution that regulated green diesel in the country but did not include the route for obtaining RX diesel from Petrobras.

The state-run company pleaded that the so-called RX diesel (the “X” is the percentage of renewable content in the composition) be considered biofuel.

ENERGY TRANSITION PROJECTS

Petrobras has set aside US$4.4 billion over the next five years for energy transition projects.

Of the total, US$3.7 billion will go to “projects that contribute to the decarbonization initiatives of the operations”.

Another US$ 600 million are the investments in biorefineries and US$ 100 million in research and development.

In the decarbonization segment, projects should receive us$3.1 billion for:

• carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS);
• methane detection systems;
• electrification of oil and gas production platforms;
• gas recovery systems, including closed flare;
• energy efficiency and emission reduction projects at refineries.

In a statement, Petrobras said it had identified three new businesses: hydrogen, offshore wind, and carbon capture.

The state-owned company said it defined, “after studying several routes of opportunities in profitable diversification that studies will be deepened and opportunities in projects will be evaluated.

The participation of Petrobras in the renewable energy segment is defended by Senator Jean-Paul Prates, who is part of the transition government’s technical group of Mines and Energy.

Prates is also quoted as president of the state-owned company.