The head of Brazil’s troubled oil giant is carving a path through the the worst oil rout in a generation that would look familiar to producers throughout the U.S. shale patch: focus on the core.
Petroleo Brasileiro SA is preparing to deepen spending cuts and concentrate on its best fields to confront the collapse of crude prices, Chief Executive Officer Aldemir Bendine said Thursday. The state-controlled producer is preparing to increase borrowing to as much as $20 billion next year, he said in an interview from one of the company’s office towers in downtown Rio de Janeiro, where it’s based.
Petrobras is working to release its next five-year investment plan as early as January, prioritizing the most prolific so-called pre-salt projects in deep Atlantic waters while looking for partners to ease spending at more marginal ones, Bendine said. Earlier this year, it said it was cutting a five-year plan of about $130 billion to about $119 billion. The next one probably will be lower still, he said. That compares with a $237 billion plan in 2013.
Brazil Energy Insight 
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