(16/04/09) Under the sponsorship of  I.E. Singapore, Petrobras and BNDES bank, we saw the holding today of a great successful event at the Intercontinental Hotel, the Seminar “Business Opportunities in Brazil’s Oil & Gas Sector”. The event was aimed particularly at drawing investments schedules until 2013 for the oil exploration into the pre-salt layer along the coasts of the States of Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Paraná and Santa Catarina, encompassing 112,000 km². The event counted, among those present, about 200 Singaporean representatives of the various sectors interested in prospective partnerships: offshore exploration and production – industrial technology, research, supply of equipment, building of vessels as platforms for production and storage (FPSO), etc.

The Brazilian delegation presented, among other executives the executive director for finance from Petrobras, Mr. Almir Barbassa accompanied by the executive director for services, Mr. Renato Duque, and the Seminar included the participation of representatives from Petrobras, Prominp, BNDES, the SINAVAL association and Keppel Shipyard. For this first phase of exploration, in the period 2009/2013 the financing shall capture resources of about US$174 billion, of which 91% shall be funded by Petrobras and 9% (about US$16.2 billion) shall be open to international financing.