Rio Oil&Gas 2012 – Great Outlook for New Business

A major opportunity for new business and new joint ventures was the prime result of the 2012 edition of the Rio O&G. Brazil’s National Petroleum Organization (Onip) believes the event may have been a catalyst for R$ 152,8 million (US$76,4 million) in new business for the next twelve months. A study made by Onip with companies present and the Rio O&G 2012 showed that 84% of these companies expected to undertake some for of new business opportunities in the near future. A total of 13 foreign and 17 local O&G companies negotiated to form joint ventures in the industry, of these 13 expect to close a deal on new joint ventures in the near future. These include local companies and companies from Canada, U.S, England, Argentina, Italy and France. Although many major and super-major O&G operators were present in the event, a large portion of the business transaction were done by small and medium operators, equipment and service suppliers, some of which are new to the O&G industry. The Rio Oil&Gas 2012, showed that there is still massive interest by players in the O&G industry to invest in Brazil. With the 11th round of tendering for new O&G block off the coast and inland slated to commence in May 2013, the industry is just heating up and industry analysts expect that the volume of new business in the industry will increase significantly after the conclusion of the 11th round of tendering. The event actually started with low expectations for new business deals, however this quickly turned to optimism one the government officially announced that the 11th round of tendering would definitely occur in 2013. It is important to note the the 11th round of tendering in May will include only inland and post-salt blocks, yet it has been confirmed that the tendering for pre-salt blocks will take place in November 2013, which greatly exited those operators and suppliers with interest in participating in pre-salt business, a segment of the O&G industry heavy on subsea and deepwater equipment suppliers.