By Jeb Blount
Nov. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil's state-controlled oil company, said it's too early to decide whether the decline in oil prices and the worldwide credit crunch will require a revision of exploration and output plans.
Petrobras, as the company is known, said today in a statement on its Web site that a revision of its 2009-2013 strategic plan hasn't been completed. The scheduled October release of the revision already has been delayed until the end of the year. All budgets are under review with an aim of cutting costs, refining chief Paulo Roberto da Costa said Nov. 4.
The plan revises the company's $112 billion 2008-2012 spending outlook. In August, before bank failures led to the credit crisis and New York oil futures traded for an average close to $117 a barrel, Chief Financial Officer Almir Barbassa said the revision would probably raise spending.
On Nov. 11, following the plunge in oil prices, Barbassa said the plan would focus on projects that generate cash. Oil currently is trading below $54 a barrel in New York.
Rio de Janeiro-based Petrobras today said it still plans to bring 12 contracted deepwater drilling rigs into service by 2012. No date has been set for a planned tender for 28 Brazilian-built drilling rigs. The lack of a date won't delay plans to bring the Brazilian-built rigs into service between 2013 and 2017, Petrobras said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jeb Blount in Rio de Janeiro at jblount@bloomberg.net
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