Rio de Janeiro – The Brazilian minister of Finance, Guido Mantega, said on this Friday (20th) that the fundraising operation of the Brazilian state-owned oil company Petrobras will be held in September, as previously announced. "The company maintains what it had informed earlier," said the minister when questioned about the date of the fundraising operation. The oil company’s intention is to carry out oil exploration and production in the pre-salt layer.
The state-owned company confirmed this Friday (20th) that the operation should last until September 30th, even though it depends on the setting of the price of the oil barrel ceded by the federal government (assignment for consideration).
The certifier companies in charge of setting the oil barrel price have already submitted their prices, but Mantega did not disclose them. "We received the data yesterday. These are preliminary data, not final reports, and they are subject to change," he said, after the signing of an agreement between the Rio de Janeiro City Hall and the World Bank.
The minister stated that the government’s next step will be to study the certifier’s analyses. "There are various data. Potential of the areas, duration, profitability, everything needs to be analyzed. You cannot look at the data for 15 minutes and come to a conclusion," he said. The market’s expectation is that pre-salt oil barrels should cost from US$ 5 to US$ 10.
According to information published in the Brazilian press this week, the company is preparing a road show to present the pre-salt projects to possible international investors in early September. The operation will be carried out in tandem with seven Brazilian banks and should include trips to the Middle East, United States, Europe and Asia.
Production
This Friday, Petrobras has also announced its oil and gas production figures in July. According the company, average oil and gas production in Brazil and abroad totalled 2,580,932 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed). The result is 3.3% greater than in the same month of 2009, and 0.7% higher than the figure for June.
In Brazil alone, daily average oil and gas production reached 2,335,861 barrels of oil equivalent, representing growth of 3.6% over the 2,254,409 boed extracted in the same month of 2009, and of 0.9% over June 2010.
The average volume of oil and natural gas extracted at foreign fields in which Petrobras operates reached 245,071 barrels of oil equivalent per day in July, representing growth of 0.6% over July 2009. There was a 1.2% decline compared with June.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
