By Brazil Stock Guide – Petrobras (PBR; PETR4 BZ) and Brazil’s oil regulator ANP signed a settlement on Tuesday to bring 335 offshore wells into compliance with well-integrity rules, ending a long-running dispute over deadlines for permanently abandoning or monitoring wells left in temporary, unmonitored status.
The agreement, signed at the office of Brazil’s Attorney General in Brasília, requires Petrobras to regularize all 335 wells covered by the case, including 76 whose operation had been transferred to other companies. Under the deal, the wells will be deemed compliant if they are permanently abandoned, temporarily abandoned with monitoring under ANP rules, or returned to production and monitored accordingly.
The work must be completed by Dec. 31, 2030, under annual and semiannual schedules structured by risk level. Petrobras will have to meet minimum targets for each risk group every six months and file reports detailing completed services, planned interventions, monitoring and inspection results, and the status of environmental permits.
Any change to the timetable will require a technical justification and express approval from ANP. Failure to meet the agreed targets may trigger penalties предусмотрadas in the settlement.
As compensation for the extension of the regulatory deadline, Petrobras will pay ANP 300 million reais. Of that total, 105 million reais must be paid within 30 days of the final signature, while the remaining 195 million reais will be paid in 48 monthly installments adjusted by Brazil’s benchmark Selic rate.
The settlement also includes technical commitments aimed at strengthening oversight and spill-response capabilities. Petrobras will provide ANP with copies of geochemical analyses of oil samples collected since 1974, as well as information related to the company’s experience in leak investigations.
ANP will also receive 20 years of access to a private international database containing analyses of oil, rocks and formation waters from several sedimentary basins. The regulator said the data will help identify the source of crude in spill events and strengthen enforcement and incident response.
Petrobras must also join the Mutual Assistance Principles, or MAP, an emergency cooperation mechanism coordinated by the Brazilian Petroleum and Gas Institute, and make intervention tools available for wells that were transferred to other operators.
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