Petrobras to Spend $102 Billion Over the Next Five Years

Brazil’s state oil and gas major Petrobras has budgeted $102 billion for the next five years, with the bulk of the sum to be spent on a boost in oil and gas exploration.

The five-year investment plan is a 31% increase on Petrobras’s budget for the previous five years, Reuters noted in a report on the company’s new strategic plan.
“We increased Petrobras’ total investments responsibly, focusing on capital discipline and commitment to keeping debt under control,” the company’s chief executive, Jean-Paul Prates, said.
Earlier this year, the chief financial officer of the company said that Petrobras could increase its investment budget for 2024 to 2028 by 10% over the previous five-year period, to $85 billion.

The additional boost suggests the company has an upbeat outlook for oil and gas demand over the next five years. At the same time, CFO Sergio Caetano Leite also said at the time that a substantial portion of the total would be spent on low-carbon projects.

In its latest version, the bulk of the spending—at 72% of the total—would go towards oil and gas exploration and production. Petrobras aims to boost its average daily output from 2.8 million barrels of oil equivalent to 3.2 million barrels of oil equivalent in 2028.
Low-carbon investments are also set to increase, to $11.5 billion, which would be twice the sum envisaged in the previous version of the next five-year budget. The money will be spent on decarbonization projects within the company as well as on low-carbon energy production projects.

The money to be spent on such initiatives is set to increase gradually over the next five years. In 2024, these will account for 6% of its spending but will expand to 16% by the end of the five-year period.

Petrobras also plans to spend $17 billion on refining, transportation, and commercialization, Reuters reported.