The BP oil spill in the US Gulf of Mexico will boost costs for E&P projects offshore Brazil and elsewhere, Adriano Pires, director of consultancy Centro Brasileiro de Infraestrutura (CBIE), told.

 

"Current E&P equipment will have to be reviewed, and insurers will also charge higher premiums for offshore activities from now on," he said. "Operational costs will inevitably be higher."

 

Brazilian hydrocarbons regulator ANP is currently in talks with Brazil's navy and the national environmental watchdog Ibama to develop a nationwide contingency plan, a spokesperson for ANP told BNamericas, confirming local reports.

 

"The government is debating a unified emergency plan to be used if we ever face a disaster like the BP oil spill," the ANP spokesperson said.

 

Until now, Brazilian state-run energy major Petrobras (NYSE: PBR) was responsible for its own offshore contingency plans.

 

"The global deepwater E&P industry is scared of what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico. When the final assessment on the causes of the accident is finished, new procedures will inevitably be adopted across the board. The Brazilian industry won't escape," Edmar de Almeida, an energy expert at Rio de Janeiro Federal University (UFRJ), told