…displeased with Brazil’s regulatory system
Should the long wait continue for project permits to be issued to Brazilian oil and gas companies, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Petrobras – a Brazilian multinational corporation – has threatened to take some of the company’s investment dollars to neighbouring Guyana.
Petrobras CEO, Roberto Castello Branco fired off at the Rio Oil and Gas 2020 digital event on Thursday criticizing the efficiency of Brazil’s regulatory system and comparing it to Guyana’s.
“We have the potential for a great oil basin and we’re barred. At the same time, Guyana is taking advantage of the situation… [Guyana] attracts us. For now, we’re continuing to invest in Brazil, but it’s possible we go over there as well, preferring that to generating value, generating jobs in a very poor region of Brazil,” Castello Branco said, even as he alluded to a three-year wait for project authorization.
According to the CEO, Brazil is yet to provide an attractive and predictable regulatory framework and, while it has a good global track record, this is not enough.
He called for the reformulation and modernization of Brazil’s National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels making it less “interventionist” and for permits in the Foz de Amazonas basin, which neighbours the Guyana-Suriname Basin, to be more accessible.
He stated plainly: “Guyana is having a party now. Maybe Petrobras will have to go there rather than the north of Brazil.”
Source: Upstream Online, Reuters
