KEY POINTS
- Petrobras is in talks with NNPCL about re-entering Nigeria’s deepwater oil sector.
- Discussions took place during Tinubu’s state visit to Brazil, alongside broader trade agreements.
- Abuja is courting Petrobras with tax incentives, reforms, and access to Nigeria’s 37 billion barrels of oil reserves.
Brazil’s state-controlled energy giant Petrobras is weighing a return to Nigeria’s upstream oil sector, signaling renewed interest in deepwater and ultra-deepwater exploration as Africa’s largest crude producer courts foreign capital to revive output.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) said on Wednesday that its upstream chief, Udy Ntia, met Petrobras CEO Magda Chambriard during President Bola Tinubu’s state visit to Brazil. The talks, it added, were focused on restoring energy ties between both nations after Petrobras pulled out of Nigeria in 2021.
“Petrobras expressed interest in exploring new areas, aligning with NNPC Ltd.’s commitment to fostering mutually beneficial partnerships in the energy sector,” NNPCL said in a statement posted on X.
Nigeria pitches deepwater revival to Petrobras
The Tinubu administration is betting on global majors to help lift production and unlock the country’s vast reserves—estimated at 37 billion barrels of oil and 200 trillion cubic feet of gas. Abuja has sweetened the deal with fresh tax incentives and regulatory reforms aimed at reducing project delays and luring investors back into a sector that has lost ground to Angola and Guyana.
Petrobras, which has long expertise in deepwater exploration off Brazil, is seen as a natural partner for Nigeria’s ultra-deepwater ambitions. Its return would mark a reversal of the company’s 2017 divestment strategy, when it sought to sell $21 billion in assets to cut debt that had ballooned to $100 billion.
President Tinubu, speaking at a joint press conference in Brasília, described Petrobras’s potential comeback as a milestone. “We have the largest gas repository. So, I don’t see why Petrobras doesn’t join as a partner in Nigeria as soon as possible,” he said.
Beyond the Petrobras talks, NNPC officials also joined a high-level roundtable hosted by Citi Brasil in São Paulo, engaging government and private-sector leaders on trade, investment, and infrastructure finance. The session, according to the company, offered a chance to deepen Nigeria-Brazil economic cooperation.
During Tinubu’s visit, the two countries signed five Memoranda of Understanding covering trade, aviation, science, finance, and diplomacy—an effort to diversify bilateral ties beyond hydrocarbons.
For Nigeria, Petrobras’s re-entry would bring not only capital and technology but also a symbolic vote of confidence as the government works to restore investor trust in an industry plagued by theft, underinvestment, and declining output.
