Page 12 - LatAmOil Week 39 2022
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LatAmOil                                          BRAZIL                                            LatAmOil



                         Speaking during the opening ceremony of Rio   of the country. Brazil could be losing out on a
                         Oil & Gas 2022, Sachsida noted that Petrobras   major opportunity to open up new hydrocar-
                         and other oil companies working in Brazil were   bon provinces if it does not pick up the pace of
                         pumping billions of dollars into upstream devel-  allowing international oil companies (IOCs)
                         opment projects. Together with changes in the   into the Barreirinhas, Ceara, Foz do Amazonas,
                         Brazilian economy, these investments are serv-  Para-Maranhao, and Potiguar basins, he said.
                         ing to push crude output upward, he said.  “We want more responsibility in the envi-
                           “Something different is happening in Bra-  ronmental licencing, but the answer must come
                         zil,” the minister said. “We are cutting taxes and   faster,” he said. “A process cannot be stalled for
                         undergoing the largest economic revolution   a decade.”
                         since 1990.”                           If the necessary licences are granted, he
                           He also urged Brazilian authorities to speed   added, drilling in the northern equatorial mar-
                         up the environmental licensing process for   gin could begin as soon as November of this
                         blocks in frontier basins in the northern part   year. ™


       Lula wants Petrobras to expand refining




       operations, says top oil and gas advisor






                         LUIZ Inacio Lula da Silva, the top-polling can-  refining operations, rebuild its international
                         didate in Brazil’s upcoming presidential elec-  business and seek out new opportunities to con-
                         tion, intends to expand the refining arm of the   tribute to the global energy transition, he said.
                         national oil company (NOC) Petrobras if he   According to Prates, Lula sees these tasks as
                         wins the vote on October 2, according to one of   higher priorities, even if they are not as effective
                         his top advisors.                    at generating high profits and dividends. Even
                           Senator Jean Paul Prates, who is acting as the   though the NOC has succeeded in boosting its
                         campaign’s point man for oil and gas issue, told   earnings by concentrating on pre-salt develop-
                         Bloomberg in an interview last week that Lula   ment projects, he noted, it has not done enough
                         did not believe the NOC should focus so intently   to prepare for the shift that the global energy
                         on upstream development of its major upstream   sector is sure to undergo in the process of decar-
                         assets in the pre-salt section of Brazil’s offshore   bonisation, he commented.
                         zone.                                  Moreover, he said, Petrobras cannot count on
                           Petrobras should instead seek to expand its   current conditions continuing indefinitely.

































                                                    Prates is Lula’s top oil and gas advisor (Photo: Facebook/senadorjean)



       P12                                      www. NEWSBASE .com                      Week 39   28•September•2022
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