IOCs Keep Believing in Brazil's Offshore

An initial wave of exploration by international oil companies (IOCs) on acreage won in Brazil's mid-2010s bid rounds has disappointed, yielding no blockbuster discoveries. But the country's low-cost, low-carbon barrels remain strategic for companies with mandates to supply near-term affordable energy while funding the transition, especially in the wake of the Ukraine crisis. Further exploration opportunities are far from exhausted, although recently re-elected Brazilian leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been highly critical of state-owned Petrobras and seems unlikely to support it selling more assets that overseas players could pick up. Here, we take a look at how Western majors and Asian national oil companies (NOCs) are positioned in Brazil's coveted offshore.