Big Brazil opportunities for oil, gas firms

KUALA LUMPUR: Brazil offers diverse opportunities, upstream and downstream, for Malaysian oil and gas companies, said Malaysian External Trade Development Corp (Matrade).

In a statement yesterday, Matrade said the recent discoveries of large offshore, pre-salt oil deposits could transform Brazil into one of the largest oil producers in the world.

It said analysts estimated that the pre-salt offshore area may contain 56 billion barrels of oil and this would make Brazil the sixth largest oil and gas producer in the world.

"Although it is found in the deep-sea areas and under thick layers of salt, pre-salt oil is considered good quality and provides huge potential for oil companies," it said.
Matrade said among the market opportunities for Malaysian companies are products and services for offshore drilling, exploration and production, refinery, drilling pipeline, turbo compressor, control-metering system, transportation, mooring cables, steam generators, submarine valves and other related services and consultation.

It said as the largest energy market in South America, Brazil has about 14 billion barrels of oil reserves, the second-largest in South America after Venezuela.

Bernama