Petrobras Slashes Platform Decommissioning Budget

Brazil's state-run oil firm Petrobras PETR4.SA cut $1.1 billion in planned investments in decommissioning oil and gas platforms in its strategic plan for the 2025-2029 period, compared to what was earmarked in its 2024-2028 plan, the company told Reuters.

Petrobras expects to invest $9.9 billion in platform decommissioning through 2029, compared with more than $11 billion previously estimated for the 2024-2028 period.

The plan now is to decommission 10 floating platforms, down from 23 originally. Seven of the platforms are located in Brazil's Campos basin, one in Santos and the other two in the Espirito Santo basin.

The changes to the decommissioning plans were not included in the latest strategic plan material released in November.

The company in a statement on Thursday cited "optimizations of decommissioning activities" for the change without further explanation.

In September, Petrobras CEO Magda Chambriard announced that the company plans to revitalize some of its decommissioned platforms, which could then be used for other projects.

At the time, Chambriard said Petrobras had created a working group to evaluate the revitalization of four platforms.