May 13 – Petrobras’ president, Magda Chambriard, stated that the state-owned company will send delegations from the refining and oil exploration and production areas to Mexico to assess potential business opportunities in partnership with the state-owned Pemex.
The new visit of Petrobras representatives to Mexico occurs a few weeks after Chambriard visited the country last month. On that occasion, the executive met with the President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum. The new meeting, scheduled for the 13th, will include representatives from the exploration and production and refining segments of the companies.
“If we are producing crude oil in Mexico, if we can refine it in Mexico itself, and if we can take advantage of the additional gas in Mexico itself, that’s the best of all worlds,” said Chambriard. “And if we can do this while also benefiting from the possible synergies between exploration, production and refining, and gas production and gas processing in Mexico, for the benefit of Braskem, then that will be the icing on the cake of all this effort,” she added.
According to Chambriard, Petrobras is seeking opportunities to incorporate new oil and gas reserves, seeing the partnership with Pemex as a relevant possibility both to expand reserves and to generate synergies in the use of oil and gas. The executive also stated that the Mexican side of the Gulf of Mexico presents potential in mature fields and assessed that the ideal scenario would be to produce oil in the country and allocate that oil for refining in Mexico itself. She added that the use of natural gas and opportunities in the petrochemical area are also part of the state-owned company’s analyses.
ASSESSMENT ON VENEZUELA
Regarding Venezuela, Chambriard stated that Petrobras has not yet made a definitive decision about potential operations in the country and that, at this moment, the company’s focus is on analyzing the current conditions of the Venezuelan market and understanding the impacts of the new oil and gas sector legislation recently approved. The executive recalled that the country operated until recently under a regime of exemptions and that the new regulatory framework is still being evaluated by the Brazilian state-owned company.
“Initially, it was understood that, to operate in Venezuela, we would need to operate through a company incorporated in the United States—which, in our case, would be via Petrobras America. However, we have received very recent information that this requirement may no longer be necessary. Apparently, there is a list of prohibited companies that Brazilian companies do not fall under. Therefore, we are seeking clarity on these points,” she explained.
Chambriard added that Petrobras has already conducted studies on Venezuelan assets in previous years and, therefore, the company already has a preliminary assessment of opportunities in the country. According to her, the next steps involve deepening the understanding of the new legislation and the exemption rules in force, to define how the state-owned company could operate in Venezuela in a way that aligns with the interests of the company, Brazil, and the neighboring country itself.
Brazil Energy Insight 
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