Marine Technology Reporter Blogs - investment

Most of the new shipyards to be built in Brazil are still on the drawing board. The exceptions are the Inhaúma yard, which was taken over by Petrobras and is being renovated as a ship repair yard, and the OSX shipyard which will be located within the Açu port complex in the northern part of the state of Rio de Janeiro. As both the port and the shipyard are owned by the EBX group, which also owns OGX OIL & GAS, they have guaranteed orders and have already received a partial environmental license and construction has already begun. The orders are guaranteed by the demand for ships from OGX, so they do not depend directly on orders from Petrobras.

Chinese companies such as Sinopec, Sinochem, CNOOC, CSSC are actively pursuing partnerships worldwide, in Brazil this effort is particularly noticeable through recent partnerships with O&G players such as Petrobras, Statoil and Repsol.In the shipbuilding business news of some form of partnership between CSSC and local builders is expected for the near future as the local shipbuilding capabilities expand. In the O&G industry, Sinopec just recently announced its partnership agreement with Spanish operator Repsol. The agreement represented a capital increase of around 7 billion for Repsol Brasil, increasing Repsol Brasil´s total capital to around 17.8 billion. With this agreement 60% of Repsol Brasil still belongs to Repsol, while 40% now belongs to Sinopec.

Continuing the influx of foreign investments in Brazil´s O&G market, that has attracted investment groups from Europe, North America and Asia. Singapore state investment holding Temasek has recently acquired shares from Brazil´s Odebrecht Oil & Gas (OOG).Negotiations to conclude the deal have been going on for five months and the final agreement has been drawn whereas Temasek bought 14.3 % of OOG for $400 million. OOG´s main interest in the partnership was to attract capital in order to increase its international presence and expand it deepwater drill rig construction program in Brazil. OOG hopes that the new partnership will help it secure the $3.5 billion in investments it that planned for 2011-2013.