Petrobras informs that together with Petrogal Brasil, Repsol Sinopec Brasil and Shell Brasil, partners in the offshore routes in the pre-salt Santos Basin, will announce contracts for sharing the natural gas pipeline and processing plants.

Today, a virtual event will be held with the presence of Petrobras’ CEO, Roberto Castello Branco, and the global executives of Royal Dutch Shell, Ben van Beurden, Galp Energia, Carlos Gomes da Silva, and Repsol, José Carlos Vicente Bravo, to formalize the construction of a more competitive natural gas market.

Roberto Castello Branco, CEO of Petrobras, emphasized the importance of signing these contracts: "The flow and processing agreements will be a milestone in the natural gas market opening in Brazil. They demonstrate the commitment of all partners to contribute to the development of a competitive and sustainable market in the country".

The contracts will provide physical interconnection and sharing of the pipeline capacities on routes 1, 2 and 3 (this last one owned by Petrobras and under construction), resulting the Integrated Pipeline natural gas System. In the future, other companies producing natural gas will be able to work to the current contracts, as long as there is capacity available in the System.

In addition to the Integrated Pipeline System, there are also contracts that constitute the Integrated natural gas Processing System, which provides companies with access to the processing units, owned by Petrobras, located in Caraguatatuba, São Paulo, Cabiúnas and Itaboraí (under construction), both in Rio de Janeiro.

With the signing of these contracts, the companies will be able to transport the gas produced in the Santos Basin pre-salt fields through any of the export routes and process it in the plants owned by Petrobras.

The combination of these two Systems is one more fundamental step for companies to sell their natural gas volumes directly to their customers. This movement is part of a set of actions that enable the diversification of agents, resulting in increased competition and reduced stake of Petrobras in all natural gas chain links, in compliance with the commitments made at the Administrative Council of Economic Defense (CADE) in July 2019.