Petrobras reveals five year investment plan

Petrobras, the national oil company of Brazil, has outlined a new investment plan that includes the funds needed to complete the joint venture refinery being built with PDVSA. The contingency measures are in place should Venezuelan state owned oil company has to abandon the project, according to Petrobras executives.

Petrobras is constructing the Abreu e Lima refinery in the port of Suape, a few kilometers outside Recife, the capital of Pernambuco state. According to Petrobras, the refinery is currently more than one third complete. Petrobras has a 60% stake in the US$ 16.25 billion project, which will have the capacity to process 230 000 barrels bpd 2013, while PDVSA has a 40% interest.

PDVSA are expected to remain a partner in the project, but Petrobras is working under ‘conservative’ guidelines that require setting aside enough reserves to be able to finish the refinery if the Venezuelan company pulls out. PDVSA has until August to decide whether it wants to continue the refinery partnership.

Revealed elsewhere in the investment plan was news that the Brazilian company will delay the start up of a new refinery project to 2016. The move comes as part of project delays that will help the company cut investment costs.

Plans have been revealed to invest US$ 224.7 billion in the five year period through until 2015, up slightly from the 2010 - 2014 plan's outlays of US$ 224 billion.

The delay of the Premium I refinery was part of project delays and exclusions that helped cut spending by approximately US$ 34 billion. Petrobras also addressed concerns about the massive investment plan's affect on its balance sheet.

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