Petrobras enlarges planned spending for oil & gas exploration and production ops, causing its 2024 capex to go up

Brazil’s state-owned energy giant Petrobras has revised its capex projection for 2024 to reflect its anticipated expansion of operations in the oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) segment.

After reporting a $6.4 billion capex in the first quarter of 2024, which increased by 12.5% compared to the same period last year, Petrobras revised its total capex projection for 2024 to a range of investments between $13.5 billion and $14.5 billion, considering mainly a new capex for the E&P arena of $11.1 billion to $12.1 billion for this year.

As explained by the Brazilian giant, this level of investment does not impact the oil and gas production curve and represents an increase of 7% to 15% compared to the company’s total 2023 capex. The second quarter saw a major management reshuffle for Petrobras as a new CEO stepped in and the CFO was replaced after the former director resigned in mid-May. 

The capex for E&P in this quarter amounted to $2.8 billion, up by 11.9% from the previous quarter. The reasons listed for this are the expansion of capex in the revitalization of the Marlim field in the Campos Basin, and progress in the construction of floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) units in the Búzios field in the Santos Basin. One of the vessels, FPSO Almirante Tamandaré, set off for the latter field at the start of August.

The capex in 2Q 2024 was mainly focused on developing production in the pre-salt area of the Santos Basin, developing production in the pre- and post-salt areas of the Campos Basin, and exploratory investments. Earlier this month, OneSubsea was hired to provide pre-salt subsea production systems and related services for the second development of the Atapu and Sepia oil fields situated in the Santos Basin.

The Brazilian giant plans to start up 14 FPSOs from 2024 to 2028 in line with its ‘Strategic Plan 2024–2028’ showcasing the firm’s intention to spend $102 billion over the next five years, with $11.5 billion earmarked for projects propelling its decarbonization journey forward.