Petrobras terminates onshore, shallow water divestments

Petrobras has decided to terminate the processes to sell the Urucu and Bahia Terra onshore hubs and the Manati shallow water field, the company stated on Monday. 

Together, these assets produced approximately 30,600b/d of oil and condensate and 15.5Mm3/d (million cubic meters per day) of natural gas in 2020, when the divestment processes were launched. 

Eneva made a bid for Urucu, but the negotiations ended in January 2022 after the company failed to reach agreement with Petrobras on the price of the asset. 

Eneva also tried to buy Bahia Terra, this time in consortium with PetroRecôncavo, but the divestment was interrupted due to an injunction issued by a court in Rio de Janeiro state. 

The sale of the Camamu field had been in the bidding stage since August 2020. 

With the curtailment of the sales, Petrobras indicates that it will maintain onshore activities, contrary to the strategy adopted by previous federal administrations. 

Keeping the onshore projects has been the subject of political pressure from oil workers unions, such as FUP and Sindipetro, which form an important base of support for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who took office last January. 

Petrobras also decided to cancel the divestment of its Argentine subsidiary Petrobras Operaciones (POSA). 

After almost a decade of international divestments, the federal oil giant is considering expanding its footprint abroad.  

On the other hand, the company said it will press on with the sales of its stake in Brasympe, owner of the Termocabo thermal plant, and in the Suape II and UEG Araucária thermoelectric plants.

The decisions follow a period of reassessment of Petrobras’ divestments, in compliance with a request by the mines and energy ministry (MME). 

Since then, Petrobras has concluded the sales of the Golfinho and Camarupim offshore hubs and the Cricaré onshore cluster to BW Energy and Seacrest, respectively.