February 19, 2016
Iran and Brazil are in talks about a possible Iranian investment in troubled refinery projects controlled by Brazil’s state oil company, a Brazilian government source told Reuters last Thursday.
Iran is talking at home mostly about the need to attract foreign investment, but here is an instance of the Iranian government sending its capital out of the country. It is part of a plan to try to assure Iranian oil exports by building or buying refineries all around the world that will order Iranian crude.
The source in Brazil said the talks are at an early stage and far from any result.
Iran has shown interest in investing in the construction of the Premium I and Premium II refineries in Brazil’s northeastern states of Maranhao and Ceara, the source said. The refineries are designed to produce low-sulfur fuels.
While plans for those projects were developed by Petrobras, as the state-owned oil company is known, they have been dropped from its investment plan. Battered by financial problems, a corruption scandal and falling oil prices, Petrobras suspended work on both projects.
Each is expected to cost more than $15 billion.