Scottish oil & gas companies winning business in Brazil

A group of Aberdeen-based oil and gas companies has indicated that collectively they could benefit from an estimated £17m worth of trade with Brazil over the next three years.

As the world’s 10th largest energy consumer and 15th largest oil producer, Brazil is a priority market for Scottish companies servicing the offshore supply chain. However, Brazil can be a challenging place to do business even though its deep water conditions, similar to those in the North Sea, make it a target market for many Aberdeen-based companies.

In March this year, Scottish Enterprise’s international development arm Scottish Development International (SDI), in partnership with UKTI, Subsea UK and the Energy Industry Council took 27 Scottish companies on a to Brazil as part of a trade mission. As a result companies which took part in the mission are now predicting an additional estimated £17m worth of trade with Brazil over the next three years.

Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said: “Scotland has established a global reputation within the oil and gas sector and I am delighted that Scottish companies are working together on an international scale. The value of international activity to the economy and exchequer is substantial. International sales by Scotland’s oil and gas supply chain rose by 8.4 per cent in 2011-12 to £8.2 billion – almost double the growth from the previous year.

“Scotland is leading the way in the world of oil and gas and has a clear competitive advantage in this

global industry. There are huge opportunities open to us internationally and we are determined to make the most of them. The Scottish Government recognises the substantial contribution that the oil and gas industry makes to our economy. We are working with the industry to continue to strengthen Scotland’s position as a global leader in the sector and these figures mark further growth in this important part of our economy.”

David Rennie, International Sector Head, Oil and Gas at Scottish Enterprise, added that an increasing number of Aberdeen companies are showing interest in the Brazil, where the economic development agency recently opened an office in Rio de Janerio – the first to be entirely dedicated to the oil and gas industry. “It’s always pleasing to see local companies capitalising on opportunities for expansion into growth markets like Brazil. Companies keen to explore the potential of this huge market will have the perfect opportunity to find out more first hand from our Brazilian guests during Offshore Europe.”

At Offshore Europe next week, SE and SDI in partnership with UKTI will be hosting a sizeable Brazilian delegation – including representatives from Brazil’s national energy corporation Petrobras - who will be involved in numerous networking activities including one-to-one meeting sessions with Aberdeen product suppliers and service providers. This is the latest in a series of Brazil-focused events organised over the past few years by the two agencies.

James Padgham, operations manager at Online Valves, visited Brazil as part of the mission earlier this year where he found there was a lot of interest in the company’s products. “Online Valves has the advantage that our parent company Online Electronics Ltd (OEL), has been established in Brazil for 17 years so we were able to break into the market relatively easily by offering our products through OEL’s local distributor. As our valves are used in both onshore and offshore pipelines, Brazil is potentially a huge growth market for us. We currently export 50% of our products with South America currently accounting for 5% of this figure, but we would expect this figure to increase over the next few years.”