After a redesign conducted abroad to lower project costs, Petrobras intends to invite bids between March and April 2014 to hire services to execute the construction work of refineries Premium I and II, to be located in Maranhão and Pará states, respectively.
In an interview with Valor PRO, the real-time news service of Valor, the state-owned oil giant CEO, Maria das Graças Foster, admitted that the company is trying in the Premium refineries to extract “lessons learned so they are not repeated.” The lesson learned, in that case, is linked to the construction of the Abreu e Lima refinery, with an estimated price tag of $17 billion, almost seven times the original budget.
Ms. Graça Foster, as she’s known, said PDVSA would only join Abreu e Lima if it injects 40% of the $17 billion. She said Petrobras would not accept less. Payment in oil could be a solution, but as long as it’s upfront. “Not in installments. I need the money.”
The Petrobras CEO said that despite the recent strengthening of the dollar, the deficit in domestic fuel prices to international ones is still “relevant.” The dollar’s retreat to R$2.20 lowered the deficit, but the company’s business plan was drawn with the dollar at R$2.
Ms. Graça Foster admitted that the price difference creates financial difficulties. “Since Petrobras is investing a lot - $45 billion last year – what seems a short term causes a great deal of stress to the company,” she said, trying to dismiss the idea that the effect is temporary.
The executive said she expects the company’s production in 2013 to be below the target’s ceiling – a variation of 2% higher or lower than last year’s result, of 2.1 million barrels a day. But she expects a production leap in 2014, reinforced by nine new rigs.
