Resumption of oil activities in Brazil attracts foreigners

The oil and gas sector in Brazil has been attracting new players. Companies from countries such as the United States, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, France and China are settling in the country and, mainly, joining national companies with a view to resuming the activity of the oil industry. This movement began to gain strength in 2017 and promises to grow in coming years, according to experts. Even Petrobras has already noticed this trend. According to the state-owned company, at least 37 new foreign companies have already qualified as suppliers, of which 11 are still in the process of qualification.

The interest is in the area of ​​services, responsible for the construction and assembly of equipment. The appetite is aimed at occupying the space formerly occupied by names such as Odebrecht, Queiroz Galvão, OAS and Engevix – some of the 18 companies that are prohibited from signing new contracts with Petrobras for involvement in irregularities revealed by the Car Wash investigations. EY consultancy data indicate that 65% of the 51 oil and gas mergers and acquisitions operations in the country in the last three years have involved foreigners.

With the big companies out of the game, Petrobras itself started to chase after new suppliers. The result was a 15% increase in the registered companies base at the end of 2017, for a total of 7,300. Of this total, 900 are foreign. According to data from Petrobras, there has also been progress in the number of small companies registered, which rose from 1,300 to 1,500 between 2016 and 2017.

According to Eberaldo de Almeida Neto, executive manager of Petrobras’ Supply of Goods and Services, the company began to seek greater interaction with the market, which, by its calculations, increased its competitiveness by 10% per year, reducing costs.

– With the interim lock, there was room for new opportunities. Some of the people who were unemployed began to occupy themselves. These foreign firms, which enter the service sector, bring knowledge and capital to invest, in addition to setting up a structure in Brazil. It is very common for these companies to associate, or to acquire a national company, and set up a construction site here, hiring Brazilians to do the services of construction and assembly – exemplified Eberaldo.