RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil’s efforts to become one of the world’s major oil producers have attracted businesses such as U.S. drilling giants Halliburton and Baker Hughes, gained it partnerships with oil companies from India and China, lured immigrants from idyllic Norway, and drawn investment dollars from American pension funds in Florida, South Carolina and California.
But the prospects for success have darkened in the seven years since Brazil first identified massive oil deposits in deep water off its coast. Many fear that Brazil’s chance to become one of the world’s major energy producers is fading as the global energy landscape changes dramatically.
Signs of disarray are many. Development of the prized deep-sea pre-salt fields, so called because they lie below thousands of feet of salt deposits, faces delays, with the next auction of drilling rights not expected till next year.
Brazil’s giant state-owned oil company, Petrobras, is in tough financial shape, with profits down 30 percent in the first three months of the year and its stock market value less than half what it was when the company went public in 2010. Production problems in Petrobras’ oil fields have forced the country once again to import oil, at an average rate of 793,000 barrels per day in the first quarter.
Making matters worse, the company faces corruption allegations. A former executive has been jailed and faces charges of money-laundering. Brazil’s Congress has opened an investigation.
Meanwhile, the world is not standing still. The United States is moving closer to energy independence, largely because of a revolution in natural gas production from hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the controversial process of injecting water and chemicals into deposits deep underground. Mexico is about to open its long-closed petroleum sector to international investment, and countries such as Colombia are ramping up oil exploration and production. The opportunity to woo customers who are seeking new sources of oil during the sanctions on Iran already has been missed.