The U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran presents Brazil with an “enormous opportunity” to attract investments to develop its oil assets, Shell’s CEO in the country told reporters on Tuesday.
Brazil’s geopolitical stability and track record as a reliable oil producer give it an advantage over other nations, Cristiano Pinto da Costa said, though acknowledging the country has limited ability to increase output in the short term.
Brazil would likely benefit over the medium to long term, he added, while touting record investments of 12.5 billion reais ($2.4 billion) by the London-listed oil major in the country last year.
“We went from having 10 to 15 blocks in 2021 to having 50 exploratory blocks in our portfolio today. This was a conscious strategic decision,” Costa said.
He said Shell’s investments in the country should remain high in coming years as it develops assets, including the Orca field. On February 24, the firm produced a record 496,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed) in Brazil, he said.
(Reporting by Fabio Teixeira and Marta Nogueira; editing by Gabriel Araujo)