One year after announcing the suspension of the sale process, Petrobras announced the teasers of the new disinvestment plans of the Baúna fields in Santos and Tartaruga Verde in Campos, which this time will be offered separately, unlike the original offering in 2015. In addition, Petrobras chose to include in the Tartaruga Verde package, the module III of Espadarte.
The prospect of resumption of the sale of the two fields was awaited by the market and anticipated by Brasil Energia. As in the shallow water packages, the two processes are being conducted by Bank of America and, together with the Piranema and Piranema Sul teasers, from early March, they initiate the second phase of Petrobras’ divestment plan.
The strategy of separating the two assets took the market by surprise, but was well received. The consulted companies were unanimous in evaluating that the two projects have very different sizes and stages and that generally attract different types of companies.
Baúna is being sold in full with the transfer of the operation, against the 50% of Tartaruga Verde and the module III of Espadarte, with Petrobras as operator. In operation since February 2013, Baúna currently produces around 34,000 barrels /day of oil, through FPSO Cidade de Itajaí, while Tartaruga Verde has forecast the first oil for the second quarter. Module III of Espadarte will be interconnected in the first quarter of 2021.
The sale of Baúna is expected to attract a larger number of companies. Although smaller, both from the point of view of size and useful life, in the eyes of the market the Santos project represents immediate cash and lower risk.
In the case of Tartaruga Verde, some executives and industry experts are concerned that the FPSO Campos dos Goytacazes has been ready since September to await the release of the environmental license. The concern is about the impact of this on the NPV of the project, given that the daily rate of chartering of Modec’s production unit exceeds the value of U$ 600 thousand.
There is also the risk of implementing a project of the size of Tartaruga Verde that will produce 100,000 barrels of oil per day through 11 wells (six producers, three water injectors and one gas injector). Another point of attention is the process of unitization with PPSA.
In the previous process, although they were offered in the same package, along with the Golfinho field, in the Espírito Santo Basin, companies could choose their assets of interest, bearing in mind that Petrobras would prioritize proposals that included the three assets. At the time, only Karoon, declared the winner of the package in October 2016, and PetroAtlantico, presented proposals for the two assets. Ouro Preto and PetroRio also disputed the deal, but only submitted a proposal for Baúna.
It is taken for granted that Karoon, PetroAtlântico and PetroRio will re-analyze Baúna. Other companies on the list of potential interest are Queiroz Galvão and DEA, which in the original process werte associated with PetroAtlântico, through Letter One. In the case of Tartaruga Verde bets are directed to new entrants like Petronas. Before the original process was launched, ExxonMobil even looked at Tartaruga Verde data, but the deal went no further.
The companies interested in the two offerings have until May 8 to send their documents to Petrobras.
Source: Brazil Energy
Brazil Energy Insight 
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