As oil majors eye Brazil’s deepwater, smaller firms seize opportunity

As global oil firms make ever-bigger bets on Brazil’s massive deepwater fields in its ‘subsalt’ area, a swarm of small and mid-sized companies has sprung up to specialize in lower-profile fields that still produce over a third of the country’s crude.

The proliferation of niche players, ranging from private equity firms to domestic and international oil companies, is adding to the dynamism of an oil industry long ruled by state oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras.

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