Petrobras to prioritize acquisition of greenfield renewable projects

Brazil's Petrobras will prioritize the acquisition of greenfield renewable energy generation projects, according to the federal oil company's energy transition and sustainability director, Maurício Tolmasquim. 

“We're mainly looking at projects that haven't started operating yet. They may be in [the] construction phase. That's in our governance,” he told reporters on Monday, following a presentation at the Latin American Energy Economics Meeting (ELAEE) in Rio de Janeiro.

Tolmasquim said there had been no change in strategic orientation in relation to intended investments in renewables since Magda Chambriard took over as the company’s new CEO at the end of May. 

“Our concern is that, when a project is approved, it has security and a return. That it’s something solid, with a PPA [power purchase agreement],” said Tolmasquim, adding that the company does not rule out having partners in the projects. 

Petrobras will announce its new strategic plan for the 2025-29 period by the end of this year. 

The low-carbon budget for the period between 2024 and 2028 includes US$5.2bn in wind and solar power, US$3.9bn in solutions to decarbonize operations, US$1.5bn in biorefining (renewable diesel and aviation biokerosene), US$700mn in research and development and US$300mn in hydrogen and carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS).

In his presentation at ELAEE, Tolmasquim said an oil company's investment in new energy sources is not just an ethical issue but a matter of necessity, since demand for oil will fall in the coming decades and funding for the sector is shrinking. 

He added that Petrobras has the challenge of keeping its absolute emissions of pollutant gases down until 2028, despite the addition of 14 new FPSOs in the period. 

To achieve this goal, the oil company has a US$1bn fund to decarbonize its operations. 

“We assess which ones have the lowest cost per ton of CO2 abated. It's a way of decarbonizing technologies and processes,” said Tolmasquim, citing as examples solutions for FPSO flares and eliminating methane leaks from gas pipelines.