Awesome Companies & Great Careers: Petrobras

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A., better known by the acronym Petrobras (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˌpɛtɾoˈbɾas ]), is a state-owned Brazilian multinational corporation in the petroleum industry headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The company’s name translates to Brazilian Petroleum Corporation — Petrobras.

The company was ranked #120 in the most recent Fortune Global 500 list.^[12] In the 2020 Forbes Global 2000, Petrobras was ranked as the 70th -largest public company in the world.^[13]

Taking into account its combined scope 1 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions, Petrobras has been one of the most climate damaging public companies.^[14][15][16] However, the company says that it has taken steps to minimise the environmental impact of its operations.^[17]

Petrobras’ financial growth between 2002 and 2006Petrobras standard model for its land oil pump, popularly known as Wooden Horse (Cavalo de Pau in Portuguese) in UFRN, Natal, Brazil.Skyscraper hosting Petrobras’ offices in Paulista Avenue, São Paulo.

Petrobras was created in 1953 under the government of Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas with the slogan “The Oil is Ours” (Portuguese: “O petróleo é nosso”). It was given a legal monopoly in Brazil.^[18] In 1953, Brazil produced only 2,700 barrels of oil per day.^[19] In 1961, the company’s REDUC refinery began operations near Rio de Janeiro,^[20] and in 1963, its Cenpes research center opened in Rio de Janeiro; it remains one of the world’s largest centers dedicated to energy research.^[21] In 1968, the company established Petrobras Quimica S.A (“Petroquisa”), a subsidiary focused on petrochemicals and the conversion of naphtha into ethene.^[22]

Petrobras had begun processing oil shale in 1953, developing the Petrosix technology for extracting oil from oil shale. It began using an industrial-size retort to process shale in the 1990s.^[23] In 2006, Petrobras said that their industrial retort had the capacity to process 260 tonnes/hour of oil shale.^[24]

In 1994, Petrobras put the Petrobras 36, the world’s largest oil platform, into service. It sank after an explosion in 2001 and was a complete loss.^[25] In 1997, the government approved Law N.9.478, which broke Petrobras’s monopoly and allowed competition in Brazil’s oilfields, and also created the national petroleum agency Agência Nacional do Petróleo, (ANP) responsible for the regulation and supervision of the petroleum industry, and the National Council of Energy Policies, a public agency responsible for developing public energy policy.^[26] In 1999, the National Petroleum Agency signed agreements with other companies, ending the company’s monopoly.^[27]

In 2000, Petrobras set a world record for oil exploration in deep waters, reaching a depth of 1,877 metres (6,158 ft) below sea level.^[28] In 2002, Petrobras acquired the Argentine company Perez Companc Energía (PECOM Energía S.A.) from the Perez Companc Family Group [es] and its family foundation for $1.18 billion. This acquisition included assets in Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador, 1.1 billion barrels of crude oil reserves and production of 181 thousand barrels of oil equivalent (1,110,000 GJ) per day.^[29]

In 2005, Petrobras announced a joint venture with Nippon Alcohol Hanbai KK to sell Brazilian ethanol to Japan, called Brazil-Japan Ethanol.^[30] On 21 April 2006, the company started production on the P-50 oil platform in the Albacora East field at Campos Basin, which made Brazil self-sufficient in oil production.^[19] By November 2015, the company had accumulated $128 billion in debt, 84% of it denominated in foreign currencies.^[31]

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrobras