Petrobras to gain $11 bln on sale of Brazil oil rights to Statoil -CEO

Riverstone Holdings

30/08/2016 20:30

By Stine Jacobsen 
    STAVANGER, Norway, Aug 30 (Reuters) - The sale of a stake in 
Carcara, the giant Brazilian offshore oil prospect, to Norway's 
Statoil ASA  STL.OL  will gain Brazil's state-led oil company 
Petrobras as much as $11 billion to pay debt or invest in other 
projects that promise to generate cash more quickly, Petrobras' 
chief executive said on Tuesday. 
    Petroleo Brasileiro SA  PETR4.SA , as Petrobras is formally 
known, sold its 66 percent stake in the prospect in July for 
$2.5 billion. But the sale will also free it from the need to 
invest its share of the area's estimated $12 billion to $13 
billion development cost, CEO Pedro Parente told reporters in 
Stavanger, Norway. That cost would total $7.9 billion to $8.6 
billion.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1AF0Z7 
    "First of all we are in a period where we need cash," 
Parente said. "Another issue here is that 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." 
    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 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. 
 
 (Reporting by Stine Jacobsen, writing by Jeb Blount; Editing by 
Dan Grebler) 
 ((Jeb.Blount@thomsonreuters.com; +55-21-2223-7143; Reuters 
Messaging: jeb.blount.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: STATOIL PETROBRAS/ASSETS