The oil companies that are already outlining their plans on the coast of São Paulo are the Norwegian Equinor, the Australian Karoon, the French Total and the British BP. There is also the Brazilian Cosan.
In São Paulo, Baixada Santista will have a second chance to make money with oil. After the investments of pre-salt have failed, a new crop of projects logistically close to the São Paulo coast should attract a lot of resources and generate jobs. Total E&P starts drilling its first production well in the Lapa field in the Santos Basin.
There is vast capacity in the southern region of the Santos Basin for oil and gas production. According to Petrobras sources, the ideal is for the region to articulate with the Government of São Paulo ways to boost these businesses.
The first stage of pre-salt investments turned to Rio de Janeiro as a strategic decision by Petrobras, while the second phase of exploration in the Santos Basin takes place through projects by foreign oil companies that advance over the retreat of the state-owned company.
The oil companies that are already outlining their investment plans are the Norwegian Equinor (formerly Statoil), the Australian Karoon, the French Total and the British BP. There is also the Brazilian Cosan.
In São Paulo, executives from Equinor and Karoon met with government officials. Cosan already informed its interest in build a gas pipeline, called Route 4, to supply Baixada Santista and Greater São Paulo.
Cosan said it was looking for ways to make the gas produced in the pre-salt viable by means of an “outflow and treatment structure” in the Baixada Santista. The company did not set deadlines.
According to the note from the State Secretariat for Infrastructure and the Environment, “The private initiative is discussing with the exploration and production concessionaires the construction of a new gas flow route in the Santos Basin (Route 4), in addition to investments in a LNG terminal (liquefied natural gas)”.
Equinor operates in Carcará and Norte de Carcará, the company acquired these fields in 2017 through a sharing round (bidding format) and the expectation, according to the company's website, is a reserve of 2 billion barrels.
Karoon has three areas, one of which is Baúna, purchased from Petrobras, where the ANP will evaluate the purchase by 2020. There are also Neon and Goiá, with development plans being analyzed by the Agency.
BP, a recent arrival in the São Paulo region, won the SM-307,7 block, located in the direction of the South Coast, for BRL 1500 million on Thursday, the 10th.
Petrobras is unable to make the heavy investments that the Santos Basin will require until 2023 or 2024. Therefore, the expansion of foreign oil companies is positive. “The State does not have resources and Petrobras does not have that volume of capital”, said the chief economist at Reag Investimentos, Simone Pasianotto.
Pasianotto points out that the flow of capital from foreign oil companies is still timid. In the 16th Round held by the National Petroleum Agency, out of 36 blocks offered, only 12 were auctioned, where Petrobras acquired only one.
