Brazil's state-run Petrobras is in talks with other national oil companies in China, India and the Middle East, including Kuwait Petroleum and Qatar Energy, to collaborate on energy projects, its chief executive said earlier this month.
The company is also keen to work with neighbouring Venezuela, said Jean Paul Prates on the sidelines of the India Energy Week event in the state of Goa. "We have two groups of Asian countries that we're interacting very much right now and we're building relationships right now - Gulf countries, India and China," he said.
"We're going to meet with Kuwait Petroleum," he said, adding that he plans to discuss refurbishing and upgrading of Brazilian refineries, projects in petrochemicals, fertilizers and energy transition. Petrobras is also looking at working with Qatar on liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, possibly in West Africa or Brazil, he said.
"Each one going into their own expertise, bringing them down to Brazil or Latin America," Prates said. "The Atlantic is our preferred operational environment. That means West Africa, Brazil, Guyana and Equatorial Margin. That's the areas we're going to focus on," he added.
Prates said Petrobras has also formed task forces with Indian Explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp and refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd to look at projects in Brazil as well as overseas, in refining and renewables. The Indian firms already own stakes in Brazilian oil and gas blocks.
"We are going to reorganize the relationship in the view of this new administration at Petrobras," said Prates, who took over as CEO a year ago after being tapped for the job by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
