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Petrobras America Inc. (PAI) does business in the United States in the following sectors:
- Exploration & Production
- Refining
- Trading of Petroleum and Petroleum Products
- Procurement of materials and equipment
A. Exploration and Production (E & P)
Until recently, PAI was a small player in the onshore and shallow water Gulf of Mexico. From 2001, PAI changed its strategy in the Gulf of Mexico, attempting to achieve more focus and materiality while preserving the prudent approach of the past. Its main goal is to take advantage of Petrobras’ expertise on deep-water and to selectively build a material portfolio of a world class exploration acreage in deep and ultra-deep water and ultra deep exploration of the shallow waters aiming to secure a meaningful production growth on a medium-to-long-term.
Petrobras acquired participation of 25 % and 26.67 % in the Cascade and Chinook fields (August, 2006). Petrobras has agreed to acquire additional participation in both fields located in the Walker Ridge OCS leasing area in water depths ranging from 7,000 to 9,000 ft. Upon completion of these transactions, the company will own 50 % and up to 71.67% in Cascade and Chinook respectively, and will be the operator of the two field developments.
Both Cascade and Chinook fields will be developed using a Floating Production Storage and Offloading facility (FPSO) to be installed in 2009, a development concept so far never deployed in the American waters of the Gulf of Mexico. This technology is largely dominated by Petrobras in its operations offshore Brazil.
FPSO Unit
Petrobras is also the operator of the Cottonwood gas field, in Garden Banks area, with 80% participation. Consisting of a subsea tie back to existing facilities in shallower water.
In order to deliver such program, Petrobras awarded a contract to a drilling contractor for a rig capable of operating in water depths of 10,000 ft, and is in negotiations for another rig – both rigs to be allocated to Petrobras GOM operations.
With the development of the above-mentioned discoveries, production should reach a level of 90 thousand barrels of oil a day by 2010.
In addition to these two field developments, Petrobras is conducting a very aggressive exploration campaign in the GOM, which includes acquisition of additional acreage and participation in wells being drilled or planned for the near future.
This campaign includes also promising areas in the deep gas shelf play, in the Garden Banks and the Corpus Christi, and in ultra deep water regions of Gulf of Mexico.
With these developments, Petrobras consolidates its position as one of the leading players in the ultra deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, benefiting from its deepwater expertise and technology developed offshore Brazil.
B. Refining
Petrobras concluded September 1, 2006, through its Petrobras America Inc. subsidiary, the acquisition of 50% of the Pasadena Refinery in Texas. The purchase was made from the Astra Oil Company, which belongs to Belgian group Compagnie Nationale a Portefeuille SA. The investment totaled approximately $ 360 million.
Pasadena Refinery
This acquisition is in line with Petrobras Strategic Plan which contemplates strong growth in the United States, both in the Up and Downstream. The refinery’s current 100,000 barrel-day processing capacity will be stepped-up. To achieve this goal, Petrobras and Astra are undertaking studies to double production and adapt this refinery to process the heavy oil produced in the Campos Basin and convert it into high-quality byproducts suitable for the American environment norms.
C. Trading
The trading group is engaged in the purchase and sale of petroleum products. These products include crude oil and refined products such as fuel oil, gasoline, special products, naphtha, Marlim Crude & other Brazilian crudes, and liquid petroleum gas.
PAI’s customers include British Petroleum, Phillips, Agway, and Exxon Mobil among several other oil and gas companies. PAI also buys crude extracted in Angola, Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia from Braspetro and subsequently sells to unrelated buyers. When oil, gas, and related products come into the U.S., PAI is the importer of record. PAI owns and leases storage facilities within the U.S. PAI also contracts with unrelated parties in the U. S. for blending operations. In the blending facilities, various types of gasoline and additives are blended together with fuel purchased from Petrobras in order to conform to EPA regulations.
D. Procurement
This group procures petroleum industry (up-stream and down-stream) equipment and supplies, spare parts, chemicals, software, replacement items, piping, tubing, and fittings. It also procures services that include equipment repair, consulting, training, and technical assistance. Procurement has an area devoted to meeting such demand for Petrobras and its affiliates, and another area focused on the needs for Petrobras America operations in the Gulf of Mexico.
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