- Region: Latin America and the Caribbean
- Energy and Natural Resources
- Others
October 12, 2012
- The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC; Governor: Hiroshi Okuda) signed on October 12, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on strategic partnership with Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (PETROBRAS), the state-owned oil company of the Federative Republic of Brazil, for the purpose of further strengthening mutual relations.
- Japan and Brazil have long developed a complementary relationship through (i) development and trade of natural resources and (ii) export and investment by Japanese companies, primarily in the manufacturing sector, into Brazil. Given this history, JBIC has provided financial support for Japanese companies' participation in energy-related projects undertaken by PETROBRAS, which performs the central role in Brazil's energy policy.
- In recent years, as a series of large-scale oil and natural gas fields have been discovered in the so-called "Pre-salt" layer under ultra-deep waters, PETROBRAS has increased its fields of business and expanded the scale of its projects. Japanese companies are therefore expected to take advantage of increasingly diverse and expanding business opportunities. Against this background, the MOU revised the fields where JBIC and PETROBRAS can strengthen mutual relations in the "A Memorandum of Understanding for Strategic Partnership" signed in May 2005*1,and is intended to provide further support for efforts to participate in projects by Japanese companies.
- JBIC will continue to strengthen relations with PETROBRAS in various ways, thereby facilitating the overseas development and acquisition of natural resources that are strategically important to Japan, and seek to maintain and improve the international competitiveness of Japanese industries. Furthermore, JBIC will provide financial support for further developing closer economic ties between Japan and Brazil.
Note
- *1 See Press Release on May 27,2005.The previous MOU was terminated after the signing of this MOU.