Exxon Eyes Brazil Expansion
April 04 2017 - 9:55AM
Dow Jones News
By Bradley Olsen and Paul Kiernan
Exxon Mobil Corp., the only big oil company without a major
foothold in Brazil, is in talks to gain access to the country's
prized deep-water resources, according to people familiar with the
matter.
The talks have included discussions about a joint venture
partnership through which Exxon would invest in projects with
state-oil firm Petróleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, as well as
potentially buying stakes in offshore tracts the Brazilian
government plans to lease out this year, the people said.
The specific terms of any agreement have yet to be completed.
One person cautioned that talks between Exxon and Petrobras
remained at a preliminary stage. But Exxon, which has eyed
deep-water resources in Brazil for at least a decade, is working
with Hess Corp. in seeking to expand in the country after Brazil
revised its regulations last year to attract greater foreign
investment, the people said.
Representatives for Exxon, Hess and Petrobras declined to
comment.
Exxon would join French giant Total SA and Norwegian
state-controlled Statoil ASA, both of which have formed
partnerships with Petrobras and expanded in Brazil in the past
year. Royal Dutch Shell PLC has said it plans to invest $10 billion
in the country over the next five years as part of a push to double
its global deep-water production.
The race to expand in Brazil comes as Petrobras is selling tens
of billions of dollars in assets in a bid to work off the largest
debt burden in the global oil industry. Brazil's conservative
government, in power since the impeachment of President Dilma
Rousseff last year, sees foreign investment in the oil sector as
key to an economic recovery after Brazil's worst recession on
record.
Write to Paul Kiernan at paul.kiernan@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 04, 2017 10:40 ET (14:40 GMT)
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