Petrobras oil-rights sale to Statoil to free up about $11 bln - CEO (updated)

Riverstone Holdings

31/08/2016 02:18

(Rewrites, adds Petrobras comment, detail on benefits of sale 
to Petrobras) 
    RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Petrobras' sale of 
offshore oil rights in Brazil to Norway's Statoil ASA  STL.OL  
will free up about $11 billion that Brazil's cash-strapped 
state-run oil company can use to pay debt or develop areas that 
promise a quicker return, the company's chief executive said on 
Tuesday. 
    Of that amount, Petroleo Brasileiro SA  PETR4.SA  - as 
Petrobras is formally known - will get $2.5 billion directly 
from Statoil for the July purchase of Carcara, south of Rio de 
Janeiro, the executive, Pedro Parente, told reporters in 
Stavanger, Norway. 
    The rest comes from the boost it will get as it is no longer 
obligated to invest $7.9 billion to $8.6 billion to transform 
the Carcara discovery into a productive oil and gas field, its 
66 percent share of the estimated $12 billion to $13 billion 
overall investment needed, he added.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1AF0Z7 
    "First of all we are in a period where we need cash," 
Parente said. "By selling Carcara we will not only receive $2.5 
billion, but we will be released from investing another $12 to 
$13 billion for the field as a whole... We would have had to 
invest 66 percent of (that) amount." 
    Petrobras also expects to control per-barrel production 
costs by redirecting the benefits of the sale to more promising 
areas closer to existing fields, pipelines and production 
equipment. 
    "Carcara is not close to the other fields we have, so by not 
being close to the fields we would not be able to use the 
synergies we can use when developing other fields that are 
closer," he added. 
    Parente also said Petrobras will meet its goal to sell $15.1 
billion of assets by the end of 2016. The target, set in 2015, 
is designed to slash its nearly $125 billion of debt, the 
largest in the oil industry. 
    Statoil said it is excited about developing Carcara, where 
it expects to produce its first oil after 2020, when older 
mature fields in Norway will be in decline.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1AF2HA 
    Statoil says Carcara contains 700 million to 1.3 billion 
barrels of oil and equivalent natural gas, enough for all U.S. 
oil needs for about two months.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nE6N0Z9016 
    While Statoil has no official estimate for Carcara 
development costs, Chief Executive Eldar Saetre told reporters 
on Tuesday that the $12 billion to $13 billion suggested by 
Parente "is a starting point." 
    "I think the numbers we are talking about are covering the 
whole field," Saetre said. "Our target is to go lower on the 
costs, but it is too early to give a number." 
    More than half of the oil and gas discovered in the Carcara 
prospect is believed to extend beyond the BM-S-8 block, in which 
Statoil bought a stake and will require Brazil to auction off 
adjacent areas to develop.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N19S059 
    Statoil's partners in Carcara are Portugal's Galp Energia 
SGPS SA  GALP.LS  (14 percent), Brazil's QGEP SA  QGEP3.SA  (10 
percent) and privately owned Barra Energia do Brasil Petróleo e 
Gás Ltda (10 percent). Barra Energia is backed by U.S. 
investment funds Riverstone Holdings LLC  RVHL.SI  and First 
Reserve Corp. 
 
 (Writing by Jeb Blount in Rio de Janeiro; Editing by Dan 
Grebler and Bill Rigby) 
 ((Jeb.Blount@thomsonreuters.com; +55-21-2223-7143; Reuters 
Messaging: jeb.blount.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: STATOIL PETROBRAS/ASSETS