PetroBras plans to return, inks MoU with OIL, OVL

NEW DELHI: Fifteen years after leaving, PetroBras appears to be trying to find its way back to India. The Brazilian state-run major on Wednesday signed MoUs with Oil India Ltd and ONGC Videsh Ltd for collaboration in exploration and production and a crude supply contract with Bharat Petroleum.

“Oil India and Petrobras will jointly explore opportunities in India’s deep and ultradeep offshore regions, including the Mahanadi, Andaman, and other sedimentary basins,” Oil India said.

The deal with ONGC Videsh is “aimed at assessing opportunities in the areas of upstream, marketing, decarbonisation and low-carbon solutions”.

BPCL’s contract envisages PetroBras supplying crude for a year, with the option to extend the period by another year. The Indian state-run refiner and fuel retailer did not give any detail of the quantity of contracted supply.

PetroBras, which is considered as the world’s largest deepwater oil producer, had in 2010 exited ONGC’s 98/2 block in the Krishna-Goadavari basin off the Andhra coast, saying it needed resources to develop its own deepwater discovery that is considered among the largest in the world.