© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Jean Paul Prates, CEO of Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras, enters the room for a news conference at the Petrobras headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil March 2, 2023. REUTERS/Pilar Olivares/File Photo
By Nidhi Verma
QUITOL, India (Reuters) – Brazil’s state-run Petrobras is in talks with other national oil companies in China, India and the Middle East, including Kuwait Petroleum and Qatar Energy, to collaborate on energy projects, its chief executive said on Wednesday.
The company is also keen to work with neighbouring Venezuela, Jean Paul Prates told Reuters on the sidelines of the India Energy Week event in the state of Goa.
“We have two groups of Asian countries that we’re interacting very much right now and we’re building relationships right now – Gulf countries, India and China,” he said.
“We’re going to meet with Kuwait Petroleum,” he said, adding that he plans to discuss refurbishing and upgrading of Brazilian refineries, projects in petrochemicals, fertilisers and energy transition.
Petrobras is also looking at working with Qatar on liquefied (LNG) projects, possibly in West Africa or Brazil, he said.
“Each one going into their own expertise, bringing them down to Brazil or Latin America,” Prates said.
“The Atlantic is our preferred operational environment. That means West Africa, Brazil, Guyana and Equatorial Margin. That’s the areas we’re going to focus on,” he added.
Prates said Petrobras has also formed task forces with Indian explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp and refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd to look at projects in Brazil as well as overseas, in refining and renewables. The Indian firms already own stakes in Brazilian oil and gas blocks.
“We are going to reorganise the relationship in the view of this new administration at Petrobras,” said Prates, who took over as CEO a year ago after being tapped for the job by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Petrobras is also exploring opportunities with Venezuela.
“We’re looking at the Venezuelan conditions anytime in the future, because they’ve been more open to conversations with all companies. We look at the situation of the sanctions, that were relieved,” he said.
“We’re looking at the debt that Venezuela has with Brazil. We’re trying to put together all that into one pot and see what happens.”
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