Petrobras eyes Australia, Indonesia gas opportunities

By Judy Hua, Reuters, Fri Feb 27, 2009 10:08am GMT  

SINGAPORE, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Brazil's state-run energy giant Petrobras (PETR4.SA)(PBR.N) is seeking opportunities for natural gas in Northwest Australia and Indonesia, to expand its energy investments in Asia, a company official said on Friday. 

Petrobras, which gets most of its output from the Americas, has put aside almost $16 billion for its international business in the next five years, and has been spreading its wings by boosting oil exports to China and acquiring a refinery in Japan. 

"Asia can be considered a new frontier for Petrobras. Asia represents lots of opportunities for Petrobras because we need gas and there are gas in Southeast Asia," said Simone Totti Davidovich, Senior Adviser of E&P International Business Development of Petrobras. 

"The countries we are focusing on are mainly Australia and Indonesia. Those are the most important countries, but we are not close to those countries," she told Reuters on the sidelines of an upstream oil and gas conference. 

Davidovich said Petrobras was talking to some firms but did not elaborate on the opportunities it was looking at. 

"We are talking to some companies and we have seen some blocks. I hope it's not that far away. I hope it's in near future." 

Among companies working in natural gas developments in Western Australia are Chevron (CVX.N), Apache Corp (APA.N), Woodside Petroleum (WPL.AX), ENI (ENI.MI) and BHP Billiton (BHP.AX) in a joint venture with Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N). 

Petrobras has no oil and gas exploration deals so far in East Asia and Australia. It holds upstream interests in Pakistan and India to explore offshore blocks. 

The company unveiled in January a huge plan to invest $174 billion between 2009 and 2013, up 55 percent from the $112 billion planned for 2008-2012, bucking the wider trend of oil firms cutting their spending amid the economic downturn. 

Davidovich said of the total investment, $15.9 billion would be for its international business, of which 20 percent would go to new businesses, including Asia Pacific. 

NEW FRONTIER 

Indonesia, Southeast Asia's biggest economy, has been offering new exploration rights and financial incentives in a bid to stem an output decline, and is targeting a 50 percent rise to $2.7 billion in spending from oil contractors this year. 

But there could be some obstacles for foreign firms to explore oil and gas in Indonesia, such as the production split. 

"Definitely it's hard to find something interesting with those terms, but it's not impossible. That's why there are so many companies there," Davidovich said. 

"If there are positive returns, we will do that." 

Only last week Brazil signed an agreement with China to supply 100,000-160,000 barrels of oil per day and expects to obtain up to $10 billion in Chinese loans to help develop its huge oil reserves to ensure future oil supplies. [ID:nN19512811] 

In November, Petrobras said it was in talks with top Asian oil refiner Sinopec (0386.HK) on taking a refinery stake in China, but there have been no concrete developments yet as companies face higher costs. 

Petrobras said last year it aimed to upgrade its newly acquired Nansei Sekiyu K.K. refinery.

 (Editing by Ramthan Hussain)