Petróleo Brasileiro SA said on Wednesday it had received $426.65 million in payment from Seacrest Petróleo SPE Norte Capixaba Ltda to conclude the sale of four production concessions in Espírito Santo state.
The operation involves all of Petrobras’ shares in Clúster Norte Capixaba, whose operation until this divestment had been 100% in the hands of Petrobras. It includes four land fields: Cancã, Fazenda Alegre, Fazenda São Rafael and Fazenda Santa Luzia.
The conclusion of the sale comes amid a dispute between Petrobras and the new Brazilian government over divestments from the state-owned company. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva earlier ordered Petrobras to be withdrawn from the privatization program initiated by his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro, public broadcaster Agência Brasil reported on January 4.
The Nord Capixaba cluster represents 3.3 percent of Petrobras’ production in the southeastern state. The cluster produced about 4.6 thousand barrels of oil per day and 769,859.73 cubic feet (21,800 cubic meters) of natural gas per day on average during the first quarter of 2023, according to Petrobras.
The payment made on Tuesday means “fulfilment of all conditions precedent has been concluded” but Seacrest still owes Petrobras up to $66 million in contingent payments based on Brent futures prices, the international benchmark for crude oil , Petrobras said in a statement to investors. .
The sale has a total value of $544 million. Seacrest had paid $35.85 million upon signing the purchase agreement.
“With the completion of the order, Seacrest assumes the status of operator of the Norte Capixaba Cluster fields and other production facilities,” Petrobras said.
Petrobras still has operations in Espírito Santo, “where the company maintains operations in important deepwater fields, in particular the Parque das Baleias, in addition to 7 exploration areas.” The state is also home to the company’s Cacimbas and Sul Capixaba natural gas processing units, as well as the Barra do Riacho terminal.
“The company maintains the commitments made in the Strategic Plan 2023-27 for the State of Espíritu Santo, with emphasis on the deployment of the Maria Quitéria platform in Parque das Baleias, the interconnection of new wells and the increase of its production curve for 2027.” he added.
In addition to a planned investment of about $20 billion in the lease of new rigs, the plan projects $78 billion in capital investments for the company’s global operations over the five years. “This amount is higher than the average of the last six strategic plans, which was $72 billion, and indicates that investments have returned to pre-Covid levels,” the plan, released on November 30, 2022, stated.
The exploration and production segment gets the largest share of the $78 billion at 83 percent, followed by refining, gas and power at 12 percent.
Divestment dispute
Petrobras last year collected $4.8 billion in payments for asset sales, it said in its fourth-quarter 2022 performance report published on March 1, 2023.
“From January 1, 2022 to March 1, 2023, we concluded the sale of the Alagoas, Recôncavo, Peroá and Fazenda Belém Clusters, Albacora Est deposit, exploratory blocks in the Paranà and Potiguar basins, our holdings in Deten Química and Gaspetro, and the SIX and REMAN refineries. We also signed the sales contracts for the Potiguar, Norte Capixaba, Golfinho and Camarupim Clusters and the LUBNOR Refinery,” he said.
These sales came before the Ministry of Energy and Mines called for a suspension of asset sales while Brazil’s new administration reviews the country’s energy policies. Petrobras said on March 1 that it had received a request from the ministry “requesting the suspension of the sale of assets for 90 (ninety) days, due to the ongoing reassessment of the National Energy Policy and the establishment of a new composition of the National Energy Policy Council”.
In early January, Lula da Silva also withdrew Petrobras from a Bolsonaro privatization plan, along with seven other companies, according to Agência Brasil. It is about “ensuring a rigorous analysis of the impacts of privatization on the public service or on the market in which the economic activity in question is inserted”, said Lula da Silva, quoted by state media in the decision of January 2
Petrobras, however, has shown a challenge for its divestment plan. He said on March 29 that “after conducting a preliminary study on the ongoing divestment processes, no reasons were found to suspend those projects for which contracts have already been signed.”
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