Brazil's Petrobras $PETR3 (-0,71%)
$PETR4 (-0,66%) is planning to return to the Nigerian oil industry and focus on deep-sea exploration, Nigerian media report, citing a senior government official.
"We have not made the best use of the fraternal relationship between us and Brazil, but it is better late than never. The upcoming SDM [Strategic Dialogue Mechanism] is an opportunity to execute sector-specific MoUs and unleash investment flows," Stanley Knwocha, a senior assistant in the Nigerian vice president's office, told Business Day.
"Petrobras is no longer operating in Nigeria, but they are very keen to come back to Nigeria. They said they want frontier areas in deep waters," the Nigerian foreign minister said, as quoted by Reuters. The publication recalls that Brazil was active in the deepwater sector of Nigeria's continental shelf some 30 years ago, but sold its operations there a decade ago to raise money for growth at home.
Petrobras plans to spend USD 111 billion in the five years between 2025 and 2029, of which USD 77 billion is earmarked for oil and gas exploration and production, the company announced late last year.
The new spending is USD 10 billion higher than in an earlier version of the investment plan, which set spending on exploration and production at USD 73 billion. That earlier plan, in turn, was an upward revision from an even earlier version of the 2025-2029 budget, which set out USD 102 billion.
Most of this amount will be spent on domestic activities, where the Brazilian major plans to increase production primarily by increasing exploitation rates in existing fields. However, billions will also be spent on new discoveries and apparently also on international expansion.
Nigeria, meanwhile, is on the lookout for oil investors as the country seeks to significantly increase production. Lagos received good news in this regard earlier this year when Exxon announced plans to spend 1.5 billion dollars on deepwater oil and gas exploration in the West African country.
