Petrobras and Total have completed two major transactions offshore Brazil valued at $1.95 billion in connection with their strategic alliance announced last March.
Petrobras has transferred to Total 35% of the rights, and the operatorship, of the deepwater Lapa field in Block BM-S-9A in the Santos Basin presalt geologic structure, alongside Shell (30%), Repsol-Sinopec (25%), and Petrobras (10%).
Lapa was put in production in December 2016 through the floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel Cidade de Caraguatatuba, which has a producing capacity of 100,000 B/D.
In addition, Petrobras transferred to Total 22.5% of the rights of the deepwater Iara area, which comprises the Sururu, Berbigão, and Oeste de Atapu fields in Block BM-S-11A in the Santos Basin presalt. The area is operated by Petrobras (42.5%) with other interests held by Shell (25%) and Petrogal (10%).
Production To Start This Year
Production at Iara is expected to start in 2018 through the 150,000-B/D-capacity FPSO facility P-68 in the Berbigão-Sururu fields, which will be followed by deployment of a second FPSO vessel in the Atapu field in 2019.
The amount of the two transactions does not include a $400-million provision that can be triggered by Petrobras to carry a part of its investment share in the Iara development fields and contingent payments. All conditions preceding the transfers were fulfilled, in particular the grant of operation and installation licenses by the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources to enable Total to become the operator at Lapa.
Giving Shape to Alliance
The transactions give shape to the Petrobras-Total strategic alliance, which allows the companies to combine their deep offshore expertise.
“These transactions represent a major step in our strategic alliance,” Petrobras CEO Pedro Parente said. “As Petrobras is a leader in the presalt exploration and Total is a leader in deep-offshore West Africa, our partnership has potential to reduce our exploratory risks and make both companies more competitive.
“Working in partnership is strategic for Petrobras. We believe it creates value, and we will continue to further our cooperation on all segments of the oil and gas value chain.”
“The realization of our strategic alliance with Petrobras follows the recent decision to launch the wide-scale development of the giant Libra field operated by Petrobras, in partnership with Total,” said Total Chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanné.
Total Taking Major Position
“With this Alliance, Total is developing a major position in Brazil, in one of the most prolific basins worldwide, by taking advantage of our deep offshore expertise, which is one of our main strengths. We are especially pleased to be the first major [company] to operate a presalt producing field in Brazil.
“We intend to keep strengthening our strategic alliance with Petrobras,” he continued, “thanks to our commitment to extend our technical cooperation in operations, research, and technology, and to develop new synergies between both of our companies.”