Petroleo Brasileiro SA or Petrobras, said Tuesday it found the first oil in the deep water of the Potiguar basin off the coast of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte. The oil was found in the 1-BRS-A-1205-RNS (1-RNS-158) well, also known as Pitu, under 1.1 miles of water 34.2 miles off the coast, the company said in an note to Brazil’s financial markets regulator. Write to Jeffrey T. Lewis at [email protected]
Brazil’s crude oil production fell slightly in October on reduced output from recently discovered offshore fields, the country’s National Petroleum Agency, or ANP, said Tuesday. Brazil produced an average 2.079 million barrels a day in October, down 0.7% from September but up 3.4% from October 2012, the ANP said. October’s output was undercut by operational troubles at a floating platform tapping oil deposits in Brazil’s pre-salt oil frontier, where billions of barrels of crude oil were discovered trapped under a thick layer of salt miles below the seabed, the ANP said. Pre-salt production fell to 308,400 barrels a day in October, down 6.5% from September, the ANP said. State-run energy giant Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR, PETR4.BR), or Petrobras, has boosted production in recent months as several new platforms were installed at offshore oil fields. The company has also completed renovations of several aging platforms in the Campos Basin, […]
Raízen breaks ground on Iogen cellulosic ethanol facility in Brazil Iogen Corporation announced that Brazilian ethanol giant Raízen Energia Participações S/A has started construction of a commercial biomass-to-ethanol facility using Iogen Energy’s advanced cellulosic biofuel technology. (Iogen Energy is a joint venture between Raízen and Iogen Corporation. Earlier post .) The $100-million plant, to be located adjacent to Raízen’s Costa Pinto sugar cane mill in Piracicaba, São Paulo, will produce 40 million liters (10.6 million gallons US) of cellulosic ethanol a year from sugarcane bagasse and straw. Plant start-up is anticipated in the fourth quarter of 2014. Iogen will provide cellulosic ethanol related process technology, process designs and start-up and operational […]
Brazil will triple oil production by 2035 and become a major exporter as it develops the Americas’ largest discoveries in almost four decades, the International Energy Agency said. Latin America’s largest economy will produce 6 million barrels a day in 2035 and account for one-third of the increase in global crude output, the Paris-based agency said. The IEA forecasts that Brazil will be the world’s sixth-largest producer, up from 12th now. The new production will come mostly from deposits trapped under a layer of salt more than two miles beneath the Atlantic Ocean’s floor, the so-called pre-salt fields. Deep-water fields including Libra and Lula, the largest oil discoveries in the Western Hemisphere since Mexico ’s Cantarell field in 1976, have attracted investments from Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and Total SA. (FP) “The increase in oil and gas production is dependent on highly complex and capital-intensive deepwater developments, requiring […]
RIO DE JANEIRO–Brazil’s recently discovered offshore oil fields will triple the country’s current crude oil output to six million barrels per day by 2035, making Latin America’s largest country a leading producer and exporter, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday. Brazil discovered billions of barrels of crude trapped under a thick layer of salt beneath the Atlantic Ocean off the country’s southeast coast, finds that will make the country the world’s sixth-largest producer and a major oil exporter, the IEA said. Development of the fields, however, will be complex and expensive when compared with other areas holding large oil reserves such as the Middle East or Russia, the IEA warned. Brazil currently produces about two million barrels of oil per day. In October, Brazil sold rights to develop one of the fields–the Libra prospect–to a group led by state-run energy giant Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PBR, PETR4.BR) that also included […]
SAO PAULO (AP) — Emission levels of greenhouse gases in Latin America’s biggest country fell last year to their lowest in two decades, a Brazilian network of environmental groups said in a report released Thursday. The Observatorio do Clima, or Climate Observatory, network is comprised of more than 30 non-governmental organizations focused on climate change. It said greenhouse gas emissions amounted to 1.48 billion metric tons in 2012 compared to 1.43 billion metric tons in 1992. Their highest point was 2.86 billion metric tons in 1995. The report measured gas emissions caused by deforestation, farming, the energy and industrial sectors and the burning of crop residues. Emissions from deforestation have dropped, but emissions from the other activities have risen and could go up more because of gasoline subsidies and increased use of thermal power, it said. Although they have dropped sharply, emissions from deforestation are still responsible for most […]
RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct. 31 (UPI) — Production from the offshore Libra area in Brazil is expected to help Petrobras reach its long-term objectives, the company’s president said. State-controlled Petroleo Brasileiro, known also as Petrobras, said it expects the first oil to be extracted from the Libra area in 2020. Company President Maria das Gracas Silva Foster said investments in Libra will be more significant as 2020 draws nearer. Oil workers with Petrobras staged a strike in mid-October to protest the auction for Libra. They wanted better wages and opposed a congressional measure for outsourcing of workers. Royal Dutch Shell, French energy company Total, China National Petroleum Corp., China National Offshore Oil Corp., and Petrobras, won a 35-year production sharing contract last week for the Libra field in the Santos Basin off the coast of Brazil. Foster said in a statement Wednesday the terms of the auction were “clear, […]
RIO DE JANEIRO—In 2006, Eike Batista strode into Rio’s opulent Copacabana Palace hotel for cocktails with a Canadian pension fund looking to play Brazil’s rise. The Brazilian entrepreneur captivated his hosts with a brazen pitch: He aimed to be the world’s richest man, and investors along for the ride would prosper, too. “The way he says it, it doesn’t sound crazy,” says Brian Gibson, then a senior vice president with the Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan, which organized the reception. “As an investor, you are looking for someone who is hungry,” Mr. Gibson says. “I didn’t know if he was going to be the richest or not, and I didn’t care.” Mr. Batista didn’t make it. Instead, he presided over one of the most breathtaking rise-and-fall stories in the history of business. Starting in 2006, Mr. Batista publicly listed five startups in five years, creating a Brazilian commodities empire from […]
RIO DE JANEIRO—In 2006, Eike Batista strode into Rio’s opulent Copacabana Palace hotel for cocktails with a Canadian pension fund looking to play Brazil’s rise. The Brazilian entrepreneur captivated his hosts with a brazen pitch: He aimed to be the world’s richest man, and investors along for the ride would prosper, too. “The way he says it, it doesn’t sound crazy,” says Brian Gibson, then a senior vice president with the Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan, which organized the reception. “As an investor, you are looking for someone who is hungry,” Mr. Gibson says. “I didn’t know if he was going to be the richest or not, and I didn’t care.” Mr. Batista didn’t make it. Instead, he presided over one of the most breathtaking rise-and-fall stories in the history of business. Starting in 2006, Mr. Batista publicly listed five startups in five years, creating a Brazilian commodities empire from […]
RIO DE JANEIRO—Brazil’s state-run oil and gas company, Petróleo Brasileiro SA, PETR4.BR +1.37% Petroleo Brasileiro S/A Pref Brazil: Bovespa R$ 18.49 +0.25 +1.37% Oct. 25, 2013 5:08 pm Volume : 30.11M P/E Ratio 8.82 Market Cap R$232.34 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee R$3,448,640 10/25/13 Petrobras Weighs New Mechanism… 10/22/13 Brazil Seen Having to Modify O… 10/22/13 Chinese Hunt for Oil in Brazil… More quote details and news » PETR4.BR in Your Value Your Change Short position is taking steps to stem huge losses on sales of gasoline and diesel that have raised questions about its ability to implement a huge investment program. On Friday, the company’s chief executive, Maria das Graças Silva Foster, wrote in a letter to shareholders that the board of directors has been presented with a new way of calculating prices that will have a “beneficial effect” in terms of bringing domestic fuel prices […]
