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Petrobras: Drilling in Troubled Waters?
Background Note
Petrobras was founded in 1953 in Brazil as a state-owned enterprise. It had sole rights over hydrocarbon exploration and production in the country, along with control over refining and other industries. It started operating in 1954. In 1961, it built its first refinery, the REDUC. It also started looking for oil in the Continental shelf. The research and development center (Cenpres) was started in1968. The first offshore oil discovery was also made in the same year in Sergipe. The first indigenously developed oil rig P1 was started in the same year. |
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In the 1970s, the government invited foreign companies to explore within Brazil. Petrobras’s growth came to a standstill in the year 1973 when the Brazilian economy felt the effects of the oil crisis which originated in the Middle East. The company then focused on exploring oil fields with the help of private partners. In 1974, the Campos Basin off the north coast was discovered. Commercial exploration in the area started in 1977.........
