LNG

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A, the Brazilian oil and gas major known as Petrobras, said a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) is being towed to Brazil from China and will arrive in the third quarter to boost natural gas and crude output in the Campos Basin.

Petrobras said that the “FPSO Maria Quitéria” is scheduled to begin operations in the last quarter of 2024 and would advance a timeline initially planned to commence operations in 2025.

The FPSO will operate in the Jubarte field, located in the Campos Basin's pre-salt layer, offshore Espírito Santo, a state in the southeast of Brazil.

Petrobras said that the FPSO has a production capacity of 100,000 barrels of oil and can process 5 million cubic metres of natural gas.

“The ‘FPSO Maria Quitéria’ is a floating production, storage, and offloading unit equipped with decarbonization technologies such as a combined cycle power generation system and FGRU (closed flare),” Petrobras added.

FPSO deal

Petrobras has chartered the FPSO from Yinson, a subsidiary of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia-based energy infrastructure and technology company Yinson Holdings, which was also responsible for its construction.

Yinson secured a deal with Petrobras for the supply, operation, and maintenance of the FPSO back in February 2022.

The FPSO set sail for Brazil on May 7 following a naming ceremony held at Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry (Shanghai) Shipyard in China.

The latest oil and gas project development comes as Petrobras has welcomed a new Chief Executive, Madga Chambriard, who said on June 19 that the country's President had asked her to work towards boosting the nation's economy.

Chambriard took over as the state-run energy company's CEO after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva fired its former CEO Jean Paul Prates last month.

Executive team

The CEO announced a new management team with the appointment of three new directors with technical know-how.

Fernando Melgarejo was appointed as Chief Financial Officer and will take over the role from Sergio Caetano Leite, who was also ousted alongside former CEO Prates.

Petrobras is also overhauling its finances as it has agreed to join a government tax-debt renegotiation programme that would result in an estimated 11.9 billion Brazilian reais ($2.19 billion) hit to its second-quarter net income.

In a securities filing, Petrobras said it had agreed to pay the Brazilian government a total of 19.8Bln reais to end several tax cases, equating to a 65 percent discount from the original amount the tax office said was owed by Petrobras.

Norway’s national energy company Equinor, a main pipeline natural gas and LNG supplier to Europe as well as being a prominent trader, made total tax contributions of over $49 billion in the last tax year, including $1Bln in environmental taxes under the EU Emissions Trading System, as prices surged following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Equinor said it focused on securing safe and reliable delivery of energy and became the largest provider of natural gas to Europe as supplies from Russian supplier Gazprom virtually ended.

“Equinor is dedicated to contributing to progress for the societies where we operate, and paying tax where value is created is an important part of this,” said Equinor Chief Financial Officer Torgrim Reitan.

Special year

“It was also a special year in 2022 in the energy markets with high and volatile prices, followed by substantial tax contributions,” Reitan added.

Equinor group companies contributed with tax, host government entitlements, royalties and fee payments totalling $49.2Bln. Of this, $44.3Bln was paid to Norway, where Equinor has the largest operations.

The company explained that financial results in 2022 were strengthened by the higher prices across energy markets compared with 2021 and with particularly high prices and higher production of gas to Europe.

“Tax payments from Equinor provides governments and authorities with opportunities to increase welfare and strengthen their societies,” said Equinor.

Governance

The Tax Contribution Report provides information about the corporate income tax Equinor paid in countries and locations where it does business.

“The report discloses Equinor’s approach to tax and tax strategy, compliance, and governance,” it added.

Equinor also emphasized that it supported policies promoting the goals of the Paris Agreement and backed a price on carbon emissions as a measure to drive emissions reductions.

“The CO2 tax in Norway has promoted development of technology and solutions to produce oil and gas with lower emissions from operations on the Norwegian Continental Shelf,” said CFO Reitan.

In 2022, Equinor said it paid $1.1 billion in environmental taxes and fees, including carbon quotas within the EU Emissions Trading System.

Norwegian energy company Equinor is proceeding with the development of two natural gas fields offshore Brazil at a cost of around $9 billion and the resources will provide about 15 percent of the South American nation’s gas needs when the project comes on stream.