Petrobras: Challenge for offshore wind projects is to adjust the risk/return ratio

(Valor) The great challenge to develop offshore wind power generation projects is to adjust risk and return, said the director of institutional relations and sustainability at Petrobras, Rafael Chaves, in a presentation to executives during the Offshore Northern Seas (ONS), Europe’s largest energy event, in Stavanger, Norway.

Chaves said that a multidisciplinary group within Petrobras continues to study, in partnership with Equinor, the feasibility of developing a 4 gigawatt (GW) offshore wind project in the Aracatu field, in the Campos Basin.
He also highlighted that a project of this type will demand high investment and that it will possibly need to be developed together with a hydrogen project. “At the end of the year we will decide if we are going to put money into this project, together with Equinor,” he said.
In December, Petrobras will disclose the strategic plan for the years 2023 to 2027.
According to the director, with the energy transition, in addition to offshore wind farms, the state-owned company has been evaluating investments in nuclear energy, hydrogen and carbon capture and storage, as well as biofuels. Chaves highlighted, however, that Petrobras will choose to invest in those projects in which it has competitive advantages and which are profitable.
“It is difficult to know which path the energy transition will take. Probably many energy sources will coexist in the future,” he said.