Lord Provost welcomes key players in the Brazilian energy sector to Aberdeen

06 September 2017

Key players in the Brazilian oil and gas sector met with the Lord Provost of Aberdeen Barney Crockett at the city’s Town House yesterday (Tuesday 05 September).

Representatives from Petrobras – Brazil’s huge majority-state-owned oil company along with representatives from the Department of Industry and Trade Brazil and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office attended the business lunch. They are in Aberdeen for the Offshore Europe 2017 exhibition and conference, which is being held from Tuesday 05 September until Friday 08 September at the AECC.

Brazil is the largest energy market in South America and has the second largest oil reserves in Latin America. Petrobras plans to invest USD 98billion by 2019. Shell also has a strong portfolio of investments in Brazil.

Brazil is particularly interested in the UK’s expertise in the following areas:

bringing challenging oil and gas projects to completion; offshore equipment and services; subsea technologies; inspection, repair and maintenance.

Aberdeen has a strong, historic relationship with Brazil and in particular, with the State of Rio de Janeiro following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in 2000. The MOU has delivered and continues to provide a mechanism for Aberdeen companies to access the market, allowing them to take advantage of continuing opportunities within the Brazilian oil and gas industry.

This relationship was further strengthened when the City of Rio de Janeiro joined the World Energy Cities Partnership (WECP) in 2011.

The downturn in the Oil and Gas industry had an adverse effect on the Energy industry in Brazil and feedback from Aberdeen companies has reported a significant decrease in activity which meant it was no longer viable for them to operate in Brazil.

Aberdeen City Council’s Economic Development team continue to liaise with colleagues in DIT Brazil and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to build on previous relations to ensure that it is best placed to once again assist Aberdeen companies in Brazil when the local market activity increases.

Lord Provost of Aberdeen Barney Crockett said: “It’s an absolute pleasure to welcome Solange and Vijay to Aberdeen. Brazil and the UK have been affected by the downturn in the oil industry in recent years but Brazil shares the same resilience as Aberdeen and we can each see better times ahead.