The British Consulate Seminar for Rio Oil & Gas 2014

By Sarah Brown, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – British oil and gas companies looking for overseas expansion will have the opportunity to glean valuable market insights within Brazil as the British Consulate in Rio de Janeiro welcomes their arrival with a series of seminars, testimonials and presentations at this year’s Rio Oil & Gas 2014 Expo and Conference on September 15th-18th.

The Rio Oil & Gas Expo is the leading oil and gas industry event in Latin America, giving national and foreign companies opportunities to showcase their services and products and well as a providing an arena for networking and related field discussion.

It is especially useful for British companies to know the overseas field and provides a channel “to prospect businesses and strengthen their brand in the Brazilian market”, explains Matt Woods, Deputy Consul-General and Head of UK Trade and Investment in Rio de Janeiro.

Woods adds, “British companies attending will have the opportunity to meet all the big players here; operators such as Petrobras, Shell, Statoil; and major contractors such as Technip, Subsea 7, Schlumberger, SBM Offshore, Odebrecht, Mendes Junior, Camargo, Correa amongst others,” stressing the major network opportunities this event has for British companies.

The British Consulate will be involved in a number of ways. On September 15th, their seminar “Opportunities with Major Contractors in Brazil”, will put British companies in touch with Subsea 7 and EBR shipyard. Woods explains, “Subsea 7 and EBR will set out their demand in terms of equipment and services from the supply chain in order to deliver their projects in Brazil. So, British companies will get highly useful market intelligence”.

Following this will be a testimonial from British company, Bridon, a global technology leader in the manufacture of wire and rope solutions used in oil and gas extraction, describing how they achieved success in Brazil with help from the Consulate.

Companies concerned with financial matters will be interested in a series of presentations from the UK Export Finance (UKEP) and the Rio de Janeiro Government. “[they cover] how the British Government can provide funding for British suppliers in Brazil, and how Rio de Janeiro Government works with us to support companies to set up in Rio, especially in the subsea segment”, explains Woods.

He adds, “In the evening, the UK delegation will attend a networking reception when they will have the opportunity to meet with other key Brazilian industry contacts.”

This year’s Rio Oil & Gas Expo is an important one for the British Consulate as it fits with their mission of promoting partnerships in commerce and other sectors.

“The UK Trade and Investment initiatives around Rio Oil and Gas are part of our Energy campaign strategy that aims to increase the presence of the British industry in the Energy sector in Brazil.” shares Woods to The Rio Times, before further adding, “we have similar campaigns, activities and events in several other sectors in Rio and around Brazil – particularly in sports infrastructure, integrated logistics, health and education.”

The activities from the British Consulate will happen at the auditorium in Windsor Barra in Rio de Janeiro, and a press release will be sent out a week before to give interested parties more information prior to the event.