1/1/2018
For the Brazilian oil industry, the year 2018 will only be six months. The reason is that, being an election year, the main client of the sector, state-owned Petrobras, will only be able to compete for the procurement of goods and services in the first half. The analysis is from the Brazilian Association of Petroleum Services Companies (Abespetro), which brings together global giants such as GE, Halliburton, Schlumberger, Transocean, Siemens, Aker Solutions, among others.
“I am optimistic with caution, because we are going to have to do everything that has to happen until July. This means a very accelerated activity at the beginning of the year, mainly because Petrobras will be hiring several FPSOs [maritime platforms for the production and storage of oil and gas natural, “said Claudio Makarovsky, the new president of Abespetro, who will take office in the first week of January. “We have had auctions [exploratory areas], which are already beginning to generate demand for rigs. It will be a very busy year,” he added.
Over the next five years, Petrobras expects to invest US $ 74.5 billion, of which 81% (US $ 60.3 billion) in the exploration and production segment, the main area of activity of the Abespetro associates. Specifically in the area of production, the Petrobras budget provides for the start-up of 19 new offshore (maritime) production systems between 2018 and 2022.
For this year, according to Makarovsky, there is a combination of favorable factors for the oil sector. Among these reasons are the resumption of auctions, which will demand goods and services from suppliers; the regulatory changes implemented by the government and the evolution of the price of a barrel of oil in 2017.
The government’s schedule of exploratory block auctions until 2019 is another positive contribution. “By maintaining that, it already gives [the industry] a very interesting planning agenda. If auctions take place in 2019, industry is already starting to plan for 2025, “he said. “We have to unlock investments, we need activity, this industry is demobilized, and if we demobilize a little more, it’s over.”
According to a survey conducted by the association in 2017, only 14 exploratory wells were completed, the worst annual result since the beginning of the historical series of Abespetro in 2004. And the number of use of drilling rigs remained in only 16 units, same number since the beginning of 2016 and which is also the worst of the historical series. The number of drilling rigs in operation is the “thermometer” of the country’s oil exploration activity. In addition, each rig means the generation of 1 thousand direct and indirect jobs, according to Abespetro.
Source: Valor – Rodrigo Polito
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