Thursday, June 6, 2013

New Energy Minister Faces Australian Cost Challenge

Gary Gray, a former Woodside Petroleum Ltd. corporate affairs chief, has been named Australia's new Minister for Resources and Energy following a cabinet reshuffle of the country's governing Labor Party.

The West Australian replaces Martin Ferguson in the role.

Industry bodies have welcomed Gray to the position, but warned he would be challenged by Australia's ongoing issue of the rising cost of doing business in the country.

The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) believed Gray's appointment, while a positive move for the industry, came at a crucial time in its history.

David Byers, APPEA chief executive, said the industry was presently investing $208 billion (AUD $200 billion) in new projects, including seven major liquefied natural gas (LNG) ventures.

He added the industry was at a turning point, with numerous new projects on the drawing board, but not yet committed.

"Australian oil and gas project costs are among the highest in the world and there are several critical policy areas that require genuine reform if hurdles that currently hinder the local industry's ability to compete internationally are to be removed," he said.

"Most important of these is the need for a stable, predictable and competitive taxation regime that encourages exploration and development investments.

"The oil and gas industry's long-term projects need long-term stability. Yet over the past five years the industry has been confronted with a range of disruptive changes to the taxation regime, affecting the company and resources taxation settings."

The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia (CME) also applauded Gray's appointment to the portfolio.

Reg Howard-Smith, CME chief executive officer, said it was good news the important portfolio had been given to a Western Australian, given the state's resources sector accounted for 46 percent of Australia's export income.

"Policy initiatives that focus on reducing costs, duplication and red tape will deliver ongoing economic benefits to all Western Australians," Howard-Smith said.

"Unfortunately we are becoming a less attractive place to develop resources projects when compared with global resource rich nations and investment may be driven to other lower cost regions because of additional layers of taxation and charges, which are continuing to drive up cost for doing business."

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For House Republicans, the season of oil and gas giveaways has begun

As reported by Politico’s Andrew Restuccia, Tuesday, House Republicans will spend the summer trying to breathe new life into tired ideas filled with industry giveaways. It’s no wonder given these politicians receive huge contributions from the oil and gas industry. Ironically, these “conservatives” want more mandates and quotas for oil companies while also cutting common sense protections for our air and water.

What Congress should focus its energy on – and what people in the West support – is balance between conservation and energy development. Instead of handouts to oil companies, our leaders in Washington should promote a diverse and thriving economy that supports main street businesses, farming and ranching, tourism, and outdoor recreation.

GOP House leadership has already said it will move the same failed giveaways it tried to push through last year, and the year before that. The problem they’re already running into is that they’ve already tried – and failed – to dupe Americans into thinking these handouts are anything else. Even a Republican energy adviser quoted in Restuccia’s story said, “It’s probably going to look a lot like it’s looked in the last four or five years.”

Westerners want more out of their elected officials than repeated political plays and messaging bills for the oil and gas industry. They want a real balance between protecting the public lands that support and attract high-wage businesses and using them to produce American-made energy.

Here’s a quick preview of the rhetoric we can expect to hear from House Republicans this summer, and the facts they will ignore:

The economy

numbers_graphicShot: Failure to open more federal lands to drilling will hurt job creation and economic growth in Western communities.

Chaser: Western states have grown out of the boom and bust cycle that comes with relying solely on energy development. Protecting as much public land as we lease will further build out the outdoor recreation industry, which already accounts for $64 billion in annual spending, 6 million jobs and nearly $80 billion in local, state and federal taxes.

Price at the pump

Shot: These bills are an important step toward bringing down gasoline prices.

Chaser: In 2012, an Associated Press study showed that oil production has no effect on gas prices. Meanwhile, a Goldman Sachs analysis found that Wall Street speculation was adding more than $23 to the price of crude, or as much as $0.56 per gallon at the pump.

Drilling on private lands

Shot: Increased pressure to develop on private lands is just one result of the slowdown of public lands energy development by this administration .

Chaser: The latest oil boom in the lower 48 states is due largely to an unconventional resource known as “shale oil,” (oil trapped within shale rock). The vast majority of both “shale oil” and “shale gas” (natural gas trapped within shale rock) is found under private, not public, lands. The location of these resources – not safeguards to protect air quality and water supplies – explain the shift in drilling from public to private lands.
shale_locationAdam Sieminski, U.S. House, Subcommittee on Energy and Power Committee on Energy and Commerce, 2 August 2012

Permitting delays

Shot: Regulatory hurdles, long delays, and policies that keep federal lands under lock-and-key have become all too common.

Chaser: Industry is responsible for the majority of permitting delays. Last year, BLM announced it is moving to an online permitting system that will hopefully help companies cut down the time it takes them to properly file permit applications.
permit_timingBLM Table of Average Application for Permit to Drill (APD) Approval Timeframes: FY2005 – FY2012

Permits

Shot: The Obama administration is playing fast and loose with drilling permit pledges.

Chaser: Industry does not use the drilling permits that have already been issued for oil and gas development. In fact, there are nearly 7,000 unused drilling permits that industry could develop on federal public lands.
unused_permitsBLM Approve Permits – Not Drilled table

Idle lands

Shot: President Obama and his Administration have actively blocked, hindered and delayed American energy production.

Chaser: According to the Department of Interior’s Oil and Gas Lease Utilization, Onshore and Offshore report, issued May 2012, “As of March 31, 2012, approximately 56 percent (20.8 million acres) of total onshore acres under lease on public lands in the Lower 48 States were conducting neither production nor exploration activities.
leased_productionDOI Oil and Gas Lease Utilization Report

The facts are not on House Republicans’ side, and neither is public opinion. A recent poll shows 9 out of 10 Westerners agree that national parks, forests, monuments and wildlife areas are an essential part of the economy. Seventy-four percent believe they help attract high quality employers and good jobs to western states.

It’s time we put conserving our treasured public lands back on equal ground with leasing them for oil and gas drilling. If oil- and gas-funded politicians continue to try and resurrect these industry giveaways, they’re just showing where their priorities lie – with the companies that fund them rather than the people they represent.


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ConocoPhillips: Natural Gas Prices Too Low for New San Juan Basin Wells

ConocoPhillips said it is temporarily suspending new drilling in the San Juan Basin in New Mexico and Colorado, citing low natural gas prices that make it uneconomical to drill new wells in the area.

"Natural gas prices have continued to be rather low," Conoco spokesman Jim Lowry said, adding that the company would be watching natural gas prices and resume drilling "as soon as it becomes economical," though he declined to set a specific target price.

Natural gas futures have rallied in recent weeks as cold weather has prompted demand for fuel. Natural gas for May delivery settled at $4.02 Thursday.

The company had three drilling rigs working in the area. Mr. Lowry said the suspension will only affect new wells. ConocoPhillips continues to produce more than 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day in the San Juan basin.

The company told its employees of the decision Tuesday, Mr. Lowry said Thursday

Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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TNK-BP Boosts Production, Reserves

Russia's TNK-BP reported results for 2012 Thursday in which the firm revealed that its oil and gas production increased by 1.8 percent during the year to 2,023 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. The firm said that its total proved reserves reach 9.8 billion barrels of oil equivalent, representing a 210-percent reserve replacement ratio.

Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Muir commented in a statement:

"We have been successfully moving our Yamal greenfields to the execution stage, with Suzunskoye the first field ready for launch and the Rospan natural gas project moving to Phase 1 full-field development."

Muir added that all of TNK-BP's international projects showed "positive momentum" with incremental production being achieved in Vietnam and Venezuela, along with gas discoveries in Brazil.

"We continue to focus on business fundamentals and bottom line enhancement and will carry out our operations safely and with minimum damage to the environment," he said.

The takeover of TNK-BP by Rosneft is scheduled to be complete by the end of this month now that the Russian state oil company has bought out BP and the Alfa-Access-Renova consortium, which together previously owned the business.

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Sec. Jewell brings home a trophy from Senate committee hearing

Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell showed up at today’s Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing loaded for bear, and she bagged an Alaskan grizzly.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski started her time by regurgitating often-repeated – and totally flawed – oil and gas industry talking points about oil and gas production on public lands. Sec. Jewell fired back, using actual statistics to point out the truth: onshore oil production on federal lands is at its highest level in more than a decade.

And when Sen. Murkowski, a true politician, tried to change the topic to offshore production, her colleague Sen. Al Franken, and Deputy Secretary of Interior David Hays pointed out that offshore numbers had (appropriately) dipped in the wake of BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf – but that offshore oil production, and offshore drilling and exploratory activity are now back at pre-spill levels and growing.

Unable to dispute cold, hard facts, Sen. Murkowski was forced to acknowledge the truth. And her admission that oil production is up on federal lands demonstrates the need for a more balanced approach between energy development and conservation.

With onshore oil production at its highest level in 10 years, the Obama Administration should adopt an equal ground policy – conserving an acre of land for every acre they lease, consistent with the balanced approach achieved by Presidents such as Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush.

Sec. Jewell pointed out in her testimony that in 2011, recreational visits contributed an estimated $49 billion in economic benefits to local communities. Balancing appropriate energy production with protecting our treasured lands also attracts high-wage businesses and entrepreneurs to Western states – strengthening our economy for future generations.

As oil- and gas-funded politicians in the House and Senate get ready for yet another summer of pushing the same failed giveaways to oil and gas companies they’ve tried before, they’re going to have to deal with the same facts that stopped Sen. Murkowski in her tracks today. It’s tough to lose a top talking point.

A few other facts from Sec. Jewell’s testimony:

The amount of producing acreage continues to increase, and was up by about 200,000 acres between 2011-2012.The 2010 onshore leasing reforms resulted in the lowest number of protests in 10 years – fewer than 18 percent of parcels offered in FY 2012 were protested.BLM field offices’ processing and approval time for drilling applications fell by 40 percent between FY 2006 and FY 2012.The Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study, released in December 2012, estimates the number of people that rely on water from the Colorado River Basin could double to nearly 76 million people by 2060.

TRANSCRIPT OF THE EXCHANGE

Sen. Murkowski, opening statement:  “A related concern is the rate of falling production on federal lands. It’s true that our nation is in the midst of an historic oil and gas boom, but it’s also true that production on federal lands is in trouble. Contrary to some of the statements of the rhetoric we’ve heard, oil production from the federal estate actually fell 5% last year after falling by even more than that in 2011. Natural gas production from the same federal areas meanwhile is in virtual free fall, down 8% last year and down 23% since 2009. The fact of the matter is that America’s energy boom is happening in spite of federal policies that stymie our production. We should be opening new lands to development, making sure the permits are approved on time, and preventing regulation and litigation from locking down our lands, and if anyone’s looking for a place to start, I’ll invite you to look to Alaska.”

Sec. Sally Jewel, responding in her testimony and opening statement said: “I want to start with energy, energy onshore. Onshore oil production on federal lands is actually at its highest level in over a decade, the amount of producing acreage continues to increase and I’m very happy, Ranking Member Murkowski, to provide you with some statistics that are a little different than the comments that you just referenced in terms of oil production. I have looked at the leasing reforms that the BLM have put in place, they changed them in 2010. They’ve actually had the lowest number of protests on lease sales in ten years, so we are making progress there, and I know the team is working hard on the time for permitting approval of new projects. That will be facilitated by automation. Sequestration has impacted that a bit but we’re still committed to getting that done….and now there are more deepwater rigs operating in the Gulf of Mexico than there were prior to the deepwater horizon spill.”

Sen. Murkowski, following Wyden’s first round of questions: “but I did just want to put a statement on the record, that, you had noted in your opening statement that oil production from federal onshore lands is at its highest level in over a decade, you had noted that perhaps our commentaries differed, I had noted that oil production from the federal estate actually fell 5% and the reference there, and I think it is important to just give some of the numbers here very briefly because I think it can be confusing. Federal onshore production was at 89.5 million barrels back in 2003, its gone up to 108.7 million in 2012, so you do have a substantial increase there, but it’s not the full picture, and that was my point. Because on federal offshore production we’ve seen that fall from 532.7 million barrels in ’03, to 438.6 million barrels in 2012, so what we’ve got is federal onshore production which rose by about 20 million barrels, and federal offshore production fell by 100 million barrels, more than five times the onshore increase. So I think that it’s important that when we’re talking about this we look at the full picture so if your numbers are different than mine, I’d be happy to share them.”

Sen. Franken, rebuttal: “Can I ask, did the moratorium after the BP oil spill… isn’t that really what caused that dip? I mean, (with laughter) we had a huge thing happen, and so there was a moratorium after that. Is that ok if I ask that of Mr. Hays?”

Deputy Sec. Hays: “Yes, Senator. It is true that oil production in the Gulf did decline because of the safety issues that arose and the need to upgrade our safety standards. The good news is that EIA recently reported a very strong upward trend now, in the Gulf. The Secretary mentioned a major discovery, there have been ten major new discoveries. There are now more than fifty rigs drilling in the offshore, lease sales are very strong that we’ve had and are having in the central Gulf and the western Gulf, so we expect to be back to where we were and further, but there certainly was a time that we did a pause, and increase the safety standard and change the way we did business and that did effect we believe temporarily in the offshore.

Sen. Franken: “I just wanted to clarify that.”


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SNC-Lavalin to Perform Detailed Design Work on Gina Krog Jacket

HFG Engineering Europe B.V. (HFGE) awarded SNC-Lavalin a contract to carry out part of the detailed design of the jacket for Statoil's Gina Krog, formerly Dagny field, development in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.

The engineering project will be executed as a joint effort of HFGE and SNC-Lavalin. Work on the 16,000-tone, barge-launched jacket is set to commence immediately.

"We worked with HFGE on the record-breaking Valemon jacket for Statoil, and we are pleased to have the opportunity to support them once again," said Hafez Aghili, Senior Vice-President and General Manager, SNC-Lavalin UK, in a released statement. "This most recent award is a testament to the expertise of our offshore engineering team for both lifted and barge-launched jackets."

Gina Krog, an oil, gas and condensate field located on Block 15/5, will be developed using a fixed platform tied into the Sleipner field for gas export with oil offloaded to shuttle tankers. The field was discovered in 2008, commenced development in 2012 and is expected to come online in the first quarter of 2017.

The field has resources in the range of 35 million cubic meters per day, and the recoverable oil resources can be increased substantially assuming that gas injection is selected in the development solution, according to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.

With more than 10 years of journalism experience, Robin Dupre specializes in the offshore sector of the oil and gas industry. Email Robin at rdupre@rigzone.com.

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Expro Opens Aberdeen Office

The Rt. Hon. Dr. Vince Cable MP, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has officially opened international oilfield services company, Expro's new well intervention facility in Aberdeen.

The Carnegie and Young facilities, located in Dyce, Aberdeen, will enhance the company's growing well intervention business, housing a team of approximately 200 employees. Combined with the forthcoming renovation of the Bruce building, which will house the subsea qualification facilities, this represents nearly $7.6 million (GBP 5 million) investment over the next 12 months.

Expro's offices in Aberdeen house a number of products/business, including; well intervention, well integrity, well testing and well services; subsea safety systems; drill stem testing and tubing conveyed perforating. To meet increasing business demand, the company has employed more than 150 new employees in the UK over the past year, bringing the total headcount to over 1100 people locally. Expro continues to support employees through a range of specialized development programs, aimed at technician, graduate, ex-armed forces and management.

The investment in people and infrastructure builds on Expro's announcement today, that the company is also investing $20 million (GBP 13 million) in new build well testing equipment, bolstering its fleet within Europe / CIS Region to support business and market growth across the region.

As part of the investment, driven by prolific discoveries in 2011/12 and the forecast increase in rig activity over the next three to five years, Expro will be adding to its existing fleet in UK and Norway to meet the demand from its customers.

Keith Palmer, Expro's Europe CIS region director, said: "As we celebrate our 40th anniversary this year, we continue to see a strong period of growth in the region. The considerable investment in Expro's facilities, equipment and people will enable us to enhance our services and meet the demands for our global client base.

"Norway and the UK's oil and gas sectors are heading in to a challenging but exciting period of expansion. As a leading service provider in this sector, we are delighted to continue in our commitment to provide optimal, innovative long-term solutions to enhance our well intervention, well testing, subsea and associated activities."

Business Secretary Vince Cable said: "We want to work with companies like Expro to maintain investment and production in the North Sea for many decades to come. That's why I'm pleased to open this new facility at Expro on the same day as we launch our oil and gas industrial strategy.

"Today's strategy will help us increase stability, encourage growth and create more jobs and apprentices in a very important UK industry."

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Mexico's Grupo R Orders Additional Jackups from Keppel FELS for $820M

Keppel FELS, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M), has secured contracts from Mexican drilling company, Grupo R, to build four jackups worth $820 million.

The jackups will be built to Keppel's proprietary KFELS B Class design and are scheduled for delivery progressively from 2Q 2015 to 4Q 2015.

When completed, Keppel FELS will have built ten KFELS B Class jackups for Mexican customers since 2012, including two for PEMEX.

Wong Kok Seng, managing director (Offshore) of Keppel O&M and managing director of Keppel FELS, said, "Mexico is an important market for us and we are glad that Mexican operators have chosen the KFELS B Class as their preferred rig design and Keppel as the preferred shipyard. We look forward to support Grupo R as they expand their fleet of premium jackup rigs for the Mexican market, with safe, on time and on budget deliveries."

Customized to Grupo R's requirements, the rigs will be able to operate in water depths of up to 400 feet and drill to depths of 30,000 feet.

PEMEX, the Mexican national oil company has announced investment plans of $25.3 billion for 2013, of which $20 billion will be targeted at upstream activities. On a visit to Keppel FELS on 30 January 2013, Mr Emilio Lozoya Austin, CEO of PEMEX, said that the company is embarking on its most ambitious drilling program in decades and plans to add between eight and 12 offshore platforms to its fleet.

Ramiro Garza V., CEO of Grupo R said, "PEMEX have indicated their aim to operate the biggest fleet of jackup rigs in the world and Grupo R is well positioned to support them with four premium jackup rigs. We chose the KFELS B Class jackup design for our first shallow water rigs because of their high specifications and their proven success for PEMEX. In choosing Keppel FELS, we are also partnering a shipyard which is able to meet the needs of our customers in terms of cost-effectiveness, time, technology, quality, and safety with environmental considerations. This will further enhance our capabilities as the leader in Mexico's onshore and offshore drilling industry."

Developed by Keppel's technology arm, Offshore Technology Development, the KFELS B Class rigs incorporate Keppel's advanced and fully-automated high capacity rack and pinion jacking system, and Self-Positioning Fixation System. It provides maximum uptime with reduced emissions and discharges. For its environmental-friendly features, the KFELS B Class design was bestowed the prestigious Engineering Achievement Award from the Institution of Engineers Singapore in 2009.

The above contracts are not expected to have a material impact on the net tangible assets or earnings per share of Keppel Corporation Limited for the current financial year.

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TNK-BP Boosts Production, Reserves

Russia's TNK-BP reported results for 2012 Thursday in which the firm revealed that its oil and gas production increased by 1.8 percent during the year to 2,023 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. The firm said that its total proved reserves reach 9.8 billion barrels of oil equivalent, representing a 210-percent reserve replacement ratio.

Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Muir commented in a statement:

"We have been successfully moving our Yamal greenfields to the execution stage, with Suzunskoye the first field ready for launch and the Rospan natural gas project moving to Phase 1 full-field development."

Muir added that all of TNK-BP's international projects showed "positive momentum" with incremental production being achieved in Vietnam and Venezuela, along with gas discoveries in Brazil.

"We continue to focus on business fundamentals and bottom line enhancement and will carry out our operations safely and with minimum damage to the environment," he said.

The takeover of TNK-BP by Rosneft is scheduled to be complete by the end of this month now that the Russian state oil company has bought out BP and the Alfa-Access-Renova consortium, which together previously owned the business.

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Hess Closes ACG Stake Sale with ONGC Videsh

Hess Corporation announced it has completed the sale of its 2.72 percent interest in the Azeri, Chirag and Guneshli Fields (ACG) and its 2.36 percent interest in the associated BTC pipeline to ONGC Videsh Ltd. for $1 billion. Adjusting for net cash flow received since the Jan. 1, 2012 effective date of sale, after tax net proceeds are $884 million.

The BP operated ACG fields, located in the Caspian Sea approximately 62 miles (100 kilometers) east of Baku, commenced production in 1997.

"This sale is another step in the execution of our strategy to become a more focused, higher growth, lower risk pure play exploration and production company," said Chairman and CEO John B. Hess. "Consistent with our announcement on March 4, the after tax net proceeds from this sale will be used to pay down an equivalent amount of short term debt."

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New World Raises Funds for Denmark, Belize Drilling

New World Oil and Gas has raised the money it needs to drill two wells during the next 12 months on its Danica Jutland project in Denmark if it decides not to proceed with west testing on its Rio Bravo No.1 well in Belize, the firm reported Thursday.

New World said that it has successfully placed 315 million shares in order to raise $9.5 million, the net proceeds of which it intends to use to test and appraise the Rio Bravo No.1 well subject to a successful well-logging program. To date all operations to do with the well are on schedule and under budget, the firm added, with a total depth of 8,800 feet – targeting the Upper Jurassic Margaret Creek Formation – expected to be reached by late April.

However, New World also said that if the Rio Bravo No.1 well is not tested and appraised the funds will be used for the drilling of two wells targeting the Harboe and Jelling prospects at the company's Danica Jutland project in Denmark, as well as for the seismic interpretation and competent person's report costs of the project.

The Harboe prospect has been assigned P50 un-risked prospective resources of 351.2 billion cubic feet of gas. The Jelling prospect has been assigned P50 un-risked prospective resources of 166.4 billion cubic feet.

New World added that drilling is also continuing at its West Gallon Jug prospect in Belize. This is targeting a P50 un-risked prospective resource of 113 million barrels of oil.

New World Chief Executive William Keller commented in a statement:

"Thanks to the support and interest of both existing and new shareholders, we are now in a position where we can test and appraise the Rio Bravo No. 1 well which the company is currently drilling in Belize (assuming a successful well logging programme) or, in the event the well is not tested, we are funded to drill two wells in the forthcoming 12 months on our highly exciting Danica Jutland project, targeting the Harboe and Jelling prospects, each of which could be transformative for the company.

"In all, three wells are expected to be drilled over the next 12 months targeting combined gross P50 volumetrics of 200 million barrels of oil equivalent with a success case valuation for all three of $3.62 billion net to the company's interest. These figures represent just three out of over 40 prospects/leads identified across our portfolio to date. We are delivering on our objective of exposing our shareholders to meaningful potential upside through the systematic identification and de-risking of multiple prospects to the point of drilling. We believe that it is just a matter of time before we make a commercial hydrocarbon discovery and, in the process, create significant value for all our shareholders."

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Sources: Petrobras to Auction $5 Billion of Nigeria Oil Assets

Brazilian oil company Petrobras is to auction off its stakes in Nigerian oil fields to raise cash for domestic projects, a deal that may fetch up to $5 billion, sources close to the deal said.

The state-controlled company, formally known as Petroleo Brasileiro SA, has hired Standard Chartered to run the process, which will kick off in the next two months, banking and oil industry sources said.

Asian state oil companies are expected to bid in the hopes of adding more production assets to their portfolios. Private equity funds are also interested, banking sources said.

Standard Chartered and Petrobras declined comment.

The decision to sell the Nigeria assets marks a retreat away from foreign markets once considered strategic in favor of realizing the government's goal for Brazil to become self-sufficient in energy.

Petrobras will sell its 8 percent stake in the Nigerian offshore Agbami blocks, which are operated by U.S. energy major Chevron and its 20 percent share of the offshore Akpo project, operated by France's Total.

Crude oil production from the Agbami field fields began in 2008. Output from the project can reach 250,000 barrels per day (bpd), and it holds estimated reserves of 900 million barrels.

Akpo began production in 2009 and has plateau output of 175,000 bpd of light condensate oil and 9 million cubic meters of gas. It has proved and probable reserves of 620 million barrels of condensate and more than 28 billion cubic meters of gas, according to Total.

Petrobras began operations in Nigeria in 1998 in the deep waters off the coast of the Niger Delta.

Petrobras is divesting assets and redirecting investment towards higher-return activities such as exploration and production to finance a five-year, $237 billion capital spending plan, the world's largest corporate investment program.

Petrobras hopes to more than double current oil and gas production by the start of the next decade to about 5.2 million barrels of oil equivalent a day and also help Brazil become self-sufficient in refined products as well. 

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