Brazil’s troubled energy giant Petrobras announced on Monday it is forming a strategic alliance with France’s Total to work on oil and gas projects.
The cooperation, according to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two firms, will involve then teaming up on undertakings of mutual interest, initially in Brazil and later overseas. Much of the work will be on offshore developments.
Both companies have a wealth of experience in deep-water E&P and the alliance should allow them to maximize that expertise while sharing risks and costs.
The two firms are already collaborating in 15 E&P consortiums, nine in Brazil and six further afield.
Petrobras, overshadowed by a huge bribery scandal the past two years and undermined by the plunge in oil prices, is the world’s most indebted oil company.
