The Atapu field, responsible for a large portion of Petrobras' pre-salt oil production, was the reason for the billionaire payment that TotalEnergies made to the state-owned company, since it will have a stake in the exploration of the resource in this structure.
During last Tuesday, (26/04), the Brazilian state-owned company, Petrobras, announced the receipt of a compensation payment from TotalEnergies in the amount of R$ 4,7 billion. Due to the company's participation in oil production through the pre-salt in the Atapu field, one of the company's most important currently for the exploration of raw materials in the national territory.
Video: Atapu Field was purchased by the Brazilian state-owned company, TotalEnergies and Shell
TotalEnergies makes compensation payment of BRL 4,7 billion to Petrobras for its minority stake in oil production in the Atapu field
Brazilian state-owned Petrobras announced this week that it received a compensation payment of 4,7 billion reais (940,24 million dollars) from TotalEnergies EP Brasil Ltda for the Atapu oil field, which has an oil production focused on pre -sal, one of the biggest bets of the company and the segment world oil company for the sector's expansion over the next few years in Brazil and throughout the world's production chain.
Thus, Petrobras also commented that this payment was made in reference to a 22,5% stake in a consortium made between the company, Shell Brasil Petróleo Ltda (25%) and TotalEnergies. In this way, the payment of R$ 4,7 billion that the company made to the Brazilian state-owned company was in reference to this minority participation in the pre-salt exploration and oil production operations that will take place in the Atapu oil field, which belongs to the company.
In addition, over the past few weeks, the European giant Shell has deposited almost US$ 1,1 billion in the Brazilian state-owned company for a stake in oil production also in the Atapu pre-salt exploration field. The compensation payment from both companies is covering sunk costs so far incurred by operator Petrobras, which in 2010 was awarded contractual rights to produce 550 million barrels of oil equivalent from Atapu. In this way, the state-owned company can benefit from these amounts for further investments within the rural production chain over the next few years.
Consortium of Petrobras, TotalEnergies and Shell will be responsible for working together to produce oil in the Atapu pre-salt exploration field
After the consortium formed between Petrobras, with a total participation in 52,5%, Shell in 25% and TotalEnergies in 22,5%, the companies agreed in December of last year to acquire surplus volumes that were auctioned by the Brazilian government for the field of Atapu oil production. However, the exceeded volumes in question were never disclosed by the government for the continuity of the partnership between the three companies in this initiative.
Despite this, the companies will now work together to develop the remaining resources in the Atapu pre-salt field, where production began in June 2020 using the P-70 floating production, storage and offloading vessel. In addition, compensation payments will also be essential for oil production sharing contracts, as Petrobras intends to increasingly expand exploration of the resource in the field.
Finally, after the finalization of the production sharing contracts, the stakes of Petrobras, Shell and TotalEnergies in Atapu will be reorganized to match the adequate recoverable reserves to which each company will be entitled, as a way to guarantee a fair production and acquisition for the three companies involved in the consortium. Petrobras and TotalEnergies are also negotiating another partnership of this type, but the project is still in its early stages.
