MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Russia's gas giant and Petrobras sign cooperation accord

Gazprom and Brazilian oil company Petrobras have signed last week an agreement on hydrocarbon cooperation, the Russian energy giant revealed in a news release Monday.

The document, signed February 23, paves the way for collaboration in prospecting, development, sales and transportation projects in Latin America and, in particular, the development of sea deposits, liquefied natural gas production and high technology cooperation. One of the first joint steps will be cooperation on the sale of LNG, development, and extraction of hydrocarbons on the Latin American continent, along with creation of gas transporting systems in the region. Gazprom's representatives in Brazil reiterated the company's interest in assisting in the design and construction of the transcontinental gas pipeline that Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela are planning to build. Government-controlled Petrobras commands the country's oil and gas transport system and owns 11 refineries. Brazil holds 1.5 billion metric tons (11 billion barrels) of crude and 326 billion cubic meters of natural gas in proven reserves, a significant volume of this is deposited under sea. Petrobas, the Brazilian oil and gas leader since 1953, accounts for 95% of the country's crude output and controls 90% of natural gas reserves. However Brazil cannot yet meet all domestic demand for natural gas and oil, and imports additional volumes from Bolivia and Argentina.