Petrobras’ CEO, Jean Paul Prates, presented the company’s advances towards energy transition at FGV

Petrobras has become the largest developer of wind projects in the country, taking another fundamental step towards energy transition. An advance resulting from its partnership with WEG, signed this month, to develop the largest onshore wind turbine in Brazil, with a potential of 7 MW – enough to supply a city of 16,880 inhabitants alone. At the same time, Petrobras holds the biggest potential for offshore wind energy among Brazilian companies in capacity filed with Ibama. This is because it submitted to the environmental agency, in September, a request to facilitate the environmental licensing of ten sea areas in the Northeast (seven areas), Southeast (two) and South (one) regions, which have a total capacity of 23 GW.

The wind turbine is already being developed by WEG and should begin mass production in 2025. With BRL 130 million in investments, the equipment will be essential to increase Petrobras’ knowledge in wind technology. These were some of the highlights presented by Petrobras’ CEO, Jean Paul Prates, during the opening lecture of the XI Seminar on the Brazilian Energy Mix and Security, this Thursday (09/28), at the headquarters of Fundação Getúlio Vargas, in Rio de Janeiro .

The company is counting on partnerships as one of the ways to make the energy transition viable. “Our purpose is to start off the development of renewable energy in the country, joining forces with key global and national players. We will share our knowledge in the offshore environment, which is completely familiar to us, and learn what we still need to develop. Furthermore, we will allocate up to 15% of our total investments to low-carbon projects in the next Strategic Plan for the period from 2024 to 2028”, said Prates.

“For an oil company, energy transition means metamorphosing, transforming into something else. This requires extensive planning, reflection, preparation, while at the same time continuing to deliver value to both shareholders and society, as is the case with a state-owned company like Petrobras”, he added.

New energy sources

Petrobras’ Energy Transition and Sustainability Officer, Maurício Tolmasquim, participated in the panel “Energy Transition and Carbon Market”. Tolmasquim gave an overview of the current global situation that motivated the company to move towards decarbonization. “The fact today is that 128 countries, which account for 88% of global emissions and 92% of GDP, have decarbonization targets. At different speeds and formats, these countries are adopting a series of policies, even stricter ones, to reduce emissions, for example, in the transport area, which is key to the oil industry. There are countries that simply intend to ban the sale of combustion vehicles and others that are creating laws to encourage the purchase of electric vehicles. The International Energy Agency predicts that, if the Paris target is met, there will be a drop in oil demand of around 40%. There is also the fact that the main financers/investors in the industry are adopting more restrictive policies and collectively they hold assets worth around 6 trillion Euros, this is a fact”, commented Tolmasquim.

The executive also highlighted Petrobras’ measures related to the challenges of reducing emissions. “Petrobras will continue to be essentially an oil company, we understand that there is room for a world with less oil and we will adapt to continue to exist as the main company in Brazil. Some activities have enormous synergy with our offshore operations, like offshore wind energy, and we are positioning ourselves in this area. Brazil has a huge coastal area and Petrobras is the company that currently holds the largest number of offshore wind projects filed with Ibama, totaling around 14GW. Another action akin to ours is the production of biofuels, such as diesel-R, for road transport, marine fuel, which will immediately contain around 10% renewable fuel and is expected to grow; there is also green ammonia, which should be destined for rail transport; and the most important one – renewable aviation fuel, which all companies need and no one is producing. We are also keeping an eye on the petrochemical area, which we should enter together with partners”, he concluded.