Brazil seeks to triple the number of ships and deepwater drilling rigs it needs to meet its ambitious oil and gas production targets set for 2020.
Dismissing widespread concern about structural overcapacity in the tanker sector, Petrobras chief executive Jose Sergio Gabrielli and Transpetro chief executive Sergio Machado have both been briefing shipowners, offshore executives and potential government partners in Norway this week, as part of a strategic plan to boost investment and ramp up shipping capacity.
Announcing that Petrobras plans to double total output to 5.4m barrels of oil equivalent per day by the end of the decade from 2.5m boe today, Mr Gabrielli told offshore operators Brazil would need five new shipyards, an additional 38 deepwater rigs and more than 280 supply and special vessels by 2020 in order to hit its capacity projections.
Mr Machado separately told shipowners Petrobras’ transport arm, Transpetro, would need to increase the size of its fleet from 53 tankers totalling 3m dwt to 120 tankers by 2015.
“We have a big challenge ahead of us to add sufficient capacity and this expansion is going to require hundreds of vessels; this opens a big avenue of opportunities for the shipping industry,” said Mr Gabrielli, addressing the Nor-Shipping conference.
Brazil lays claim to being the fourth-largest buyer of ships worldwide and its shipbuilding sector alone has managed rapidly to swell its ranks from 2,000 people employed a decade ago to more than 56,000 by 2010. The Brazilian delegation was keen to point out there was still considerable money to be spent on their ambitious expansion plans.
The Brazilian government is planning to invest $1bn in maritime training and research over the next three years and estimates it will need to train 208,000 people in Brazil by 2020 to meet demands across the maritime and logistics sector.