Latest news with #Petrobras
Time of India
2 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Foreign oil partners to get first right of refusal in Indian exploration projects: Puri
New Delhi: Foreign oil and gas companies entering technical partnerships with Indian firms will be granted the right of first refusal (ROFR) in the event of hydrocarbon discoveries, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Friday. The minister cited state-run ONGC's recent collaboration with BP for the Mumbai High offshore field and Oil India Ltd's agreement with Brazil's Petrobras in the Andaman Sea basin as examples where such provisions are in place. However, no clarification was provided on the exact contractual terms offered to BP and Petrobras. The ROFR mechanism gives the foreign partner the option to match any offer received by the Indian asset owner from a third party before sale or transfer. Addressing the CII Annual Business Summit 2025, Puri said foreign firms may prefer this model over competitive bidding as it reduces financial exposure. 'It's better that they come in as technical partners, for which they will be paid, and when you strike energy, they'll have the right of first refusal,' he said. On global crude prices, Puri said they are likely to stay close to USD 65 per barrel due to sufficient supply in the market. 'There are enough supplies in the market. I see global prices, and here I am, very careful, to be in the range of USD 65 per barrel. My sense is that prices will hold,' he said. Asked about possible fuel price cuts, the minister said, 'If prices remain like this, then going forward, these are things which you can legitimately expect.' Puri informed that over 1 million square kilometres of sedimentary basins that were previously marked as 'no-go' zones have been opened for exploration. This has led to 37 per cent of the bids under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) coming from these newly available areas. Speaking on domestic oil production and refining, he said India's refining capacity, which currently stands at 260 million tonnes per annum (MMTPA), is projected to rise to 309.5 MMTPA by 2028. He said India is shifting from teapot refineries to larger refining hubs. On India's clean energy transition , the minister highlighted rapid progress in ethanol blending. He said the country had already achieved 20 per cent ethanol blending in petrol by 2025, up from 1.4 per cent in 2014, ahead of its 2026 target. Puri reiterated the government's target of bringing green hydrogen production costs down to USD 1 per kg within a decade. He also underlined the potential of large-scale Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) production in countries including India, Brazil, the United States, and Canada. The minister said India imported 5.6 million barrels of crude oil per day in 2024, spending USD 139 billion. To reduce dependence, the country is exploring domestic resources and diversifying import sources from 27 to 40 countries, including Brazil, Guyana, Suriname, Canada and Argentina. India's oil marketing companies reported profits of ₹1.29 lakh crore in the last financial year, and the figure could match previous highs if ₹40,000 crore in pending dues are recovered, Puri said. The minister said that 22,000 km of gas pipeline has been laid as of 2024, with a target of expanding to 33,000 km by 2030. He said domestic gas availability has improved and global prices have stabilised, which will help in boosting industrial and residential consumption. On Compressed Biogas (CBG), Puri said the government has set a target of setting up 5,000 plants. He added that the production of Fermented Organic Manure (FOM) as a by-product remains a key revenue stream for producers. He said land availability and pricing mechanisms will be key to the pace of implementation. Regarding the Ujjwala Yojana, launched in 2016, the minister said there are around 10.3 crore beneficiaries, and the country has over 33 crore LPG connections. Rajiv Memani, President Designate of CII, said, 'Today, India imports over 85 per cent of its crude oil and a significant share of natural gas. Some projections suggest it may reach 90 per cent by 2030. India also imports 50–55 per cent of natural gas. This reliance underscores the urgency to diversify our energy mix, enhance domestic production, and accelerate the adoption of alternative fuels.' Puri also pointed to the growth of energy startups, breakthrough discoveries, and ongoing innovation as indicators of progress. He emphasised the need for collaboration between auto manufacturers and industry leaders to drive clean energy initiatives.
Reuters
2 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Brazil's Petrobras to cut average jet fuel prices by 7.9% as of June
RIO DE JANEIRO, May 30 (Reuters) - Brazilian state-run oil firm Petrobras ( opens new tab will cut its average jet fuel prices to distributors by 7.9%, or 0.28 real ($0.0490) per liter, starting June 1, the company said in a statement on Friday. ($1 = 5.7174 reais)
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Business Standard
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Foreign technical partners to have 1st right of refusal on oil finds: Puri
Foreign oil and gas companies entering into technical partnerships with Indian counterparts will be given the right of first refusal (ROFR) in the event of crude oil or gas discoveries, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Friday. Puri cited state-owned ONGC's recent partnership with BP for the Mumbai High offshore field and Oil India Limited's (OIL's) agreement with Brazil's Petrobras in the Andaman Sea basin. He said such provisions are already in place in these cases. The ROFR is a contractual arrangement that typically allows the holder to enter a business transaction with the grantor before the asset can be offered to any third party. In the context of oil and gas, this right may give a foreign joint venture partner or lessee to match any offer received by the owner of hydrocarbon blocks, such as ONGC or OIL, from a third party, before the asset can be sold or transferred. Officials did not clarify what exact terms have been offered to BP and Petrobras. Puri said foreign entities need to commit large amounts of money for exploration, which sometimes they are not willing to do. 'It's better that they come in as technical partners, for which they will be paid, and when you strike energy, they'll have the right of first refusal,' Puri said at the CII Annual Business Summit here. In February, ONGC signed a contract to enhance production from Mumbai High. Part of the 116,000 sq km Mumbai Offshore Basin in the Arabian Sea, BP Exploration (Alpha) Ltd, a London-incorporated, wholly-owned subsidiary of BP Plc, was appointed as a Technical Services Provider (TSP). At the time, ONGC had said: 'The TSP has indicated a substantial increase in the oil and oil equivalent gas production (up to 60 per cent) from the baseline production levels (reputed third-party vetted production estimates with natural decline) over a 10-year contract period," ONGC had said back then. Similarly, in February, OIL signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Petrobras to leverage the Brazilian major's deepwater drilling expertise in the deep and ultra-deep offshore regions, including the Andaman basin. The collaboration also covers the Mahanadi and other sedimentary basins. One big find The government's 2016 shift from a production-sharing regime to a revenue-sharing agreement for foreign entities was necessitated by the disagreements and litigation experienced in the previous regime, Puri said. 'A revenue-sharing agreement is easier, and a lot of these (foreign companies) are not willing to commit upfront,' he said. Referring to oil-rich Guyana, Puri said there could be many 'Guyanas' waiting to be discovered in the Andaman Sea. 'One big find in the Andaman sea will change everything. It will be a huge transformation in India's economic strength,' Puri said. The average expenditure for digging a well onshore is $4 million, while it is exponentially higher at about $100 million offshore. Guyana dug 47 offshore wells before they struck oil, Puri said. He revealed ONGC has dug the highest number of wells in 37 years in FY25.
Reuters
3 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Brazil's Petrobras to commission 52 vessels by 2026-end in $5.1 billion investment
RIO DE JANEIRO, May 29 (Reuters) - Brazil's state-run oil firm Petrobras ( opens new tab will commission 52 vessels by 2026, investing 29 billion reais ($5.12 billion), said Chief Executive Magda Chambriard during an event on Thursday alongside President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Without providing further details, Chambriard said the firm will ensure up to 65% in local content for the construction of the vessels, which would help boost Brazil's shipbuilding industry. ($1 = 5.6621 reais)
Reuters
3 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Wartsila bets flexibility key for ethanol power generation in Brazil
SAO PAULO, May 29 (Reuters) - Finland's Wartsila( opens new tab is betting that a more nimble way to generate power with ethanol will prove viable in Brazil where similar efforts by major firms floundered a decade ago. Wartsila announced a partnership in March with a power plant in the northeast Brazilian city of Recife, where a four-megawatt engine will burn ethanol for 4,000 hours during a two-year pilot starting in April 2026. The Finnish company billed its efforts as a world-first trial in generating electricity with an ethanol-powered engine. But similar experiments by Brazilian corporate heavyweights Petrobras ( opens new tab and Vale ( opens new tab sputtered out amid high costs and low uptake, according to people who worked on those projects. Brazil is the world's second-largest producer of ethanol, after the United States, producing the biofuel largely from sugarcane and increasingly from corn. Brazil has used ethanol to power cars for decades, leading to volatile prices affected by sugar and petroleum markets. In 2010, Petrobras teamed up with General Electric, before the U.S. manufacturer split into three separate public companies, to convert a gas turbine at the state-run oil producer's power plant in Juiz De Fora to run on ethanol. "Ethanol was very sexy, everyone gets very hyped about it," a person with knowledge of the project told Reuters on condition of anonymity. The plant returned to running on natural gas shortly after the 1,000-hour test was completed, as higher costs made ethanol untenable as a fuel in the long run, the person added. Petrobras confirmed the turbine in Juiz De Fora now runs on natural gas. Vale Solucoes em Energia (VSE), a startup majority-owned by the mining giant, invested some $600 million in clean energy, including ethanol-powered electricity, VSE's former Chief Executive James Pessoa said in an interview. VSE built smaller ethanol-based generators for electricity which were used in Rio de Janeiro and Amazonas state, Pessoa said, adding that another was built at Brazil's Antarctic research station. VSE was shuttered by 2013. Pessoa said he had not seen any further development since then of ethanol-powered generators like those produced by VSE. "The technology exists," he said, adding that Brazil could have millions of heavy ethanol engines powering the country. "But in practical terms, there are zero (in operation)." Wartsila plans to test ethanol as a fuel for one of its 32M engines, which is larger than the VSE generators but far smaller than the plant converted by Petrobras, seeking efficiency at a more flexible scale. While running a turbine on ethanol 24-7 is more costly than natural gas, those plants cannot provide the flexibility needed by a grid like Brazil's, which is mostly powered by renewables, Jorge Alcaide, Wartsila's managing director in Brazil and head of its energy business in the southern America region, said in an interview. The engine will "follow the wind" and start up quickly when renewable sources like wind and solar fall off, said Alcaide. Wartsila declined to reveal its spending on the pilot. "Thermal power plants in Brazil should be used in the standby model," he said. "We need thermal to be available, it's like insurance."
