Petrobras Oil Hunter Fights To Keep Finds For Brazil

Bloomberg: Petrobras Oil Hunter Fights to Keep Finds for Brazil.

Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Guilherme Estrella found an undersea lake of oil that may transform Brazil’s economy forever. Now, the exploration chief for Petroleo Brasileiro SA is at the center of a debate over who will profit from it.

At stake is how much of Brazil’s newfound riches will be controlled by the state and how much will end up in the pockets of Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc and other oil companies hungry for new sources of crude. Estrella wants to make Western oil companies little more than hired help for government-controlled Petrobras, as his company is known.

“Petrobras is our space program,” ...

Few people have been involved in the discovery of more oil than Estrella, said Gerrard Demaison, a former Chevron Corp. geologist who is president of Capitola, California-based Petroscience2000.

“This guy’s work was prophetic and essential for finding the oil Brazil has today and making Petrobras what it is,” Demaison, 76, said in a telephone interview. “I would put him alongside the great petroleum geologists of the last century.” ...

“If he’d stick to geology, he’d be fine, but I’m afraid his political ideas and those of his allies are going to damage the industry and put the country’s energy future at risk,” said Amaral, now a senator. “We need investment.”

Petrobras: Jupiter Is "Tupi-Sized"

Another 8 billion barrels: Galp Rises; Petrobras Confirms `Large' Deposit at Jupiter Find.

Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Galp Energia SGPS SA, Portugal's biggest oil company, climbed as much as 3.6 percent in Lisbon trading after Petroleo Brasileiro SA said tests confirmed a ``large'' deposit of natural gas and light crude oil in the Brazilian offshore well known as Jupiter.

Lisbon-based Galp advanced as much as 45.5 cents to 13.255 euros, and traded at 13.01 euros as of 9:58 a.m. in the Portuguese capital. The stock has dropped 29 percent this year for a market value of 10.8 billion euros ($16 billion).

Petrobras, as Brazil's state-controlled oil company is known, last night said it will be able to provide a more- detailed estimate of oil reserves in the 1-BRSA-559A-RJS well after further analysis. Petrobras said Jan. 21 that the Jupiter deposit appeared to be ``Tupi-sized,'' a reference to a nearby prospect that it estimates may have 8 billion barrels of oil.

Brazil May Have 70 Billion Barrels Near Tupi

Brazil May Have 70 Billion Barrels of Oil Near Tupi.

Sept. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Brazil has between 30 billion and 70 billion barrels of oil in its so-called pre-salt fields near the Tupi discovery off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state, said Julio Bueno, the state's economic affairs secretary.

The oil estimate refers to fields previously discovered by Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil's state-controlled oil company, BG Group Plc and other companies in the Santos Basin, Bueno said today in an interview with Bloomberg Television in London.

``We think that in the areas that Petrobras and other companies have already discovered we have 30 billion to 70 billion,'' said Bueno, a former Petrobras executive. ``It's not an easy task to say how much you have, but it's a good amount to think about.''

About $600 billion will be needed to develop the pre-salt resources, an amount that will require involvement from both Brazilian and non-Brazilian oil companies, Bueno said. The Tupi field may have as much as 8 billion barrels of recoverable oil, Petrobras said in November, making it the largest oil discovery in the Americas since 1976.

Bueno favors retaining Brazil's existing rules and regulations governing oil exploration and believes a national debate over how to spend revenue from the new fields will not end with restrictions on foreign investment.

``The law is very nice and running well,'' he said. ``We need foreign investment and technology. We need an open system.''

Rio de Janeiro-state's position as Brazil's main oil- producing region and its governor Sergio Cabral's close relationship with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will help ensure that major changes to the country's oil lease system aren't made, Bueno said.

Brazil currently leases its oil rights to private companies at auctions and the companies can sell the oil they produce. The discovery of the new fields has initiated a discussion about how to increase the government's share of oil revenue and whether the state should take a bigger role in managing oil development.

I just averaged down.