Petrobras firms up partnership with PdVSA
State-run Petrobras oil company confirmed plans to build a new refinery in conjunction with Venezuela’s PdVSA
in Brazil and up its exploration and production in the Caribbean country as part of its 2006-2010 expansion
plan.
“The new refinery is included in the plan and should be ready to go between late 2010 and 2011 in the
northeast. There is still no decision on the site,” said Petrobras President José Sergio Gabrielli.
Gabrielli addressed investors and market operators via conference call and laid out details of the business plan
Petrobras unveiled. Gabrielli said Petrobras and Petroleos de Venezuela (PdVSA) have signed several confidentiality
agreements covering the projects under consideration.
Plans “entail a large increase in our exploration and drilling activities in Venezuela,” he said,
explaining that Petrobras intends to test and drill for crude in Venezuela’s land and sea oilfields.
The joint construction of a refinery by South America’s top oil-producing countries has been in the works for a
long time, with many ups and downs. This is the first formal definition of the project as a Petrobras
enterprise.
Within the framework of presidential meetings, representatives of the two governments have been hammering out a deal
to build, at a cost of some $ 2.5 bn, a refinery able to process between 200,000 and 250,000 barrels of heavy crude
per day.
According to analysts, it is not yet clear whether the new plant will refine state-owned PdVSA or Petrobras crude
extracted from Brazilian oilfields.
Another option would be to process a little bit of each, or Venezuelan oil drilled by Petrobras.
