Equinor Buys 25% Stake in Brazil’s Roncador Oil Field

Equinor and Petrobras have completed their transaction announced in December 2017, whereby Equinor has acquired a 25 percent non-operated interest in the Roncador oil field in Brazil’s Campos Basin. This follows all transaction conditions being met, including government and regulator approval.

Reflecting equity volumes produced since the effective date of January 1, 2018 and the deposit paid upon the signing of the transaction, Equinor has paid Petrobras an adjusted cash consideration of $2 billion. There remain additional contingent payments of up to $550 million related to investments in projects to increase the recovery from the field.

Based on current production the interest in Roncador, the third largest producing field in Brazil, increases Equinor’s equity production in Brazil by around 150 percent to around 100,000 boe per day from around 40,000 boe per day. Petrobras retains operatorship of Roncador and a 75 percent interest.

The acquisition is part of Equinor’s strategic partnership with Petrobras to expand technical collaboration. Equinor will leverage its Increased Oil Recovery (IOR) technology, competence and experience from the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS), while Petrobras will use its experience as the world’s largest deepwater operator and pre-salt developer to maximize value creation from and the longevity of the Roncador field. Equinor is also using the partnership with Petrobras to develop its presence in the natural gas market in Brazil.

The ambition is to increase Roncador’s recovery factor by five percentage points, increasing the total remaining recoverable volumes from 1 billion boe to more than 1.5 billion boe.

“We look forward to working with Petrobras to maximize the upside potential from the Roncador field. The collaboration between the two companies will enable us to extend the productive life of the field, which will result in enhanced ripple effects for local communities and the supplier industry. This will also result in increased value and cash flows for the benefit of Brazil and the companies involved,” said Anders Opedal, Brazil country manager.