OREANDA-NEWS. Petrobras CEO, Graca Foster, participated in Sao Paulo, in the “Investment in Infrastructure: Base of Development” Seminar, sponsored by Revista Brasileiros. In her address, she highlighted how our investments contribute to the growth and consolidation of the country's infrastructure.

The 2013-2017 Business and Management Plan foresees investments of USD 236.7 billion, 95% of which earmarked for Brazil. By 2020, oil production will surge from the current 2 million barrels per day to 4.2 million, benefiting from the recovery of the shipbuilding industry, responsible for building rigs and support vessels.

“To reach this oil output and meet the local content levels, we had the privilege to revive the offshore industry in Brazil,” said Graca. “We now have a number of shipyards that have returned to business after being idle for years and years, and we had to work hard for that to happen.”

Among the shipyards currently in activity, the CEO cited Atlantico Sul (EAS), in the state of Pernambuco, and Quip - Honorio Bicalho, Rio Grande (ERG), and ERG 2, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Under construction, she cited the Jurong Aracruz shipyard, in the state of Espirito Santo, and the Enseada do Paraguacu, in the state of Bahia. “They all have order portfolios that give them assurance to continue their activities until 2015, 2017 and 2020,” she remarked. “It is a great center of knowledge generation and job creation.”

Besides impacting the shipping industry, increasing our oil production requires large investments in logistics infrastructure. To meet these needs, we have created Infralog - Logistics Infrastructure Optimization Program. “By 2020, USD 6 billion will be invested in expanding port, airport, and oil terminal capacity,” noted Graca.

Regarding the works we conduct, as in the case of the construction work underway for the Northeast Refinery (Rnest), Comperj, and the Tres Lagoas Fertilizer Unit, the CEO details that the investments are not limited to the units' structures. “When you build a refinery in Brazil, it is not only the refinery, rather the entire infrastructure of the surrounding areas, such as the construction of piers, access roads, and transmission lines.”Concerning future investments, the CEO addressed the National Petroleum Agency's three bidding rounds in 2013. In the 11th Bidding Round, held in May, we acquired 34 of the 289 blocks and are now evaluating how we will act in the 12th Bidding Round (conventional and unconventional gas) and in the 1st Production Sharing Round, which includes the Libra field, planned for the second half of the year. “With what we have today, we will reach 2020 at 4.2 million barrels of oil per day. But the three bidding rounds open a new window for the oil and gas industry in Brazil ranging beyond 2020,” said the CEO.