Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras has denied it has plans to sell stakes in its pre-salt assets.

Namely, reports have emerged that Petrobras might sell some of its pre-salt assets prompting the company to issue a statement denying the media writings.

In particular, Petrobras rebuffed the report by Brazilian newspaper Valor Economico published on Wednesday, April 15, 2015, which said that Petrobras’ approved divestment plan, aimed at reducing capital spending, contains stakes in pre-salt assets.

The newspaper said that Petrobras could sell some exploration licences that are not part of the production sharing agreements and stake in the Libra field.

The oil company said:“Petrobras has a divestment plan of US$ 13.7 billion for 2015 and 2016, which is the Company’s financial plan to reduce leverage, to preserve cash and to concentrate in priority investments. This divestment plan, as approved, does not include pre-salt assets.”

The pre-salt layer is a geological formation which lies 3,000–4,000 meters under the bottom of the ocean waters offshore Brazil. The pre-salt layer was discovered in 2006 with the field currently known as Lula (formerly known as Tupi), in the Santos Basin, off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. The first pre-salt oil was produced in September 2008 in the Jubarte field, in the Campos Basin, when a well was connected to the P-34 platform.

Petrobras recently informed that its production from the Santos and Campos basin pre-salt clusters reached record levels in February.

Source: www.offshoreenergytoday.com

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