Petrobras in talks with oil majors over Africa exploration, E&P exec says

Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) is studying a total of 10 opportunities to partner with oil majors including Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Shell (SHEL) for exploration in Africa, E&P head Sylvia dos Anjos told Bloomberg in an interview on Thursday, as the company seeks to capitalize off its expertise in developing deepwater wells.

Petrobras (PBR) is looking to buy a 40% stake in Galp Energia’s (OTCPK:GLPEF) (OTCPK:GLPEY) Mopane oil and gas field in Namibia, hoping to become operator of the promising offshore discovery, and recently acquired minority stakes in three blocks from Shell (SHEL) in Sao Tome and Principe, two islands offshore Central Africa that have shown geologic similarities to Guyana.

TotalEnergies (TTE) CEO Patrick Pouyanne said recently at a conference in Rio de Janeiro that his company is open to partnering with Petrobras (PBR) abroad – “he knocked on our door,” Anjos said.

The move into Africa is part of a wider shift at Petrobras (PBR), which has long focused exclusively on deepwater fields in Brazil’s pre-salt region.

Apart from Africa, Anjos confirmed Petrobras (PBR) is looking for deals in Argentina’s Vaca Muerta shale region as part of a plan to increase natural gas supplies, and has held talks with YPF (YPF), which wants to share development costs with a partner.

Anjos added that a top priority for Petrobras (PBR) is obtaining permits to explore the Foz do Amazonas basin in Brazil’s Equatorial Margin, where the industry hopes for similar discoveries to what Exxon found in Guyana.