Brazil energy watch: Petrobras, Órigo Energia, Aneel

In his first message after taking over as CEO of national oil company Petrobras on Thursday, Jean Paul Prates defended the expansion of its oil and gas exploration activities, with emphasis on the pre-salt and equatorial margin.

Prates is a former senator of the ruling workers party (PT).

"We want the company to continue to excel in oil and gas production, always seeking new frontiers in a responsible and increasingly sustainable way," he said, adding that the NOC will boost its presence in all the regions and business areas where it operates.

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Petrobras added 2Bboe (billion barrels of oil equivalent) to its proven reserves in 2022, ending the year with 10.5Bboe. 

Of the total, 85% was oil and condensate and 15% natural gas.

The increase was mainly due to the continued development of the Búzios field and new projects to increase oil recovery in other fields in the Santos and Campos basins.

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Petrobras said it concluded the sale of its entire stake in the Campos-based Albacora Leste field to PRIO (formerly PetroRio). 

The operation involved a cash payment of US$1.64bn, plus the US$293mn that the NOC received when the contract was signed in April 2022. 

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The week also saw Petrobras terminate a sales process for nitrogenated fertilizer unit III (UFN-III), in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul.

The plant, whose construction has not yet been completed, was going to be sold to Russia's Acron but the parties failed to reach a final agreement.

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Órigo Energia unveiled an investment of 250mn reais from US-based Augment Infrastructure, an investment fund manager focused on renewable energy and sustainable infrastructure. 

In a release, Órigo said the injection will boost its investment capacity, which projects accumulated capex of 4bn reais until 2025, when it will have over 1GWp in installed capacity in its solar farms for more than 500,000 clients.

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Electric power watchdog Aneel said it will maintain the green tariff flag for the month of February. 

With favorable generation conditions in the country, the green flag - which does not add costs to consumers' energy bills - has been in effect since April 2022.

With the arrival of the rainy season, conditions improve for the country’s lower-cost hydroelectric plants and it is not necessary increase generation from more expensive sources, such as thermoelectric plants.