Brazil’s state-run oil giant, Petrobras, has revealed its plan to make Africa its main region of development outside South America, with a major push into deepwater exploration.
Petrobras recently shared that Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) has offered the company preferential rights to acquire 9 offshore exploratory blocks.
Speaking during an interview with Reuters, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Magda Chambriard, said that the move proves a deepening of ties between Petrobras and the West African country.
According to her, Côte d’Ivoire basically rolled out the red carpet by giving its company preference, and because of the geological similarities between the region and Africa, work has to be extended to the African continent.
“Ivory Coast has extended the ‘red carpet’ for Petrobras to explore deep and ultra-deep waters off its coast, when it gave the company preference in buying nine offshore exploratory blocks on Wednesday.
We are experts in the eastern margin of Brazil. The correlation between Brazil and Africa is unequivocal, so we need to go to Africa,” he said.
Magda stated that Nigeria, Angola, and Namibia are currently expressing interest in working with the Brazilian giant, and discussions are ongoing to make that a reality.
Recall that 3 weeks ago, Vice President Kashim Shettima said that Brazil’s state oil company is working on re-entering Nigeria’s oil sector, with a particular interest in frontier deepwater acreage.
Kashim disclosed that it is part of broader efforts to boost bilateral cooperation ahead of the 2025 Nigeria-Brazil Strategic Dialogue Mechanism.
In recent years, Petrobras has shown interest in purchasing stakes in oil assets abroad, especially in Africa, as it looks to boost its reserves while it experiences delays in securing environmental permits to drill for new oil off the coast of the Amazon rainforest.
Petrobras is also exploring India’s coast, and according to Magda, the company is set to take part in an upcoming oil block auction scheduled for July.
