Gazprom Eyeing Opportunities in Brazil Oil, Gas

Russian natural gas giant Gazprom (GAZP.MM) is close to opening an office in Brazil that will run its growing Latin American business and is examining business opportunities there, a senior executive said on Thursday.

Gazprom is already active in some South American nations and hopes to enter the Brazilian upstream sector, Deputy Chief Executive Alexander Medvedev said on Thursday.

"Today, we met with Petrobras and decided to take the next step in our relations and also to look at the upstream opportunities and LNG opportunities (there)," Medvedev told reporters at the World Gas Conference.

Brazil's state controlled oil company Petrobras (PETR4.SA) (PBR.N) is studying the possibility of using floating natural gas liquefaction plants to develop the huge reserves of the pre-salt area of the Santos Basin.

Petrobras is considering shipping LNG from the Santos fields to receiving terminals in Brazil and also elsewhere in Latin America.

The new office in Brazil will have oversight responsibility for Gazprom's South American operations, Medvedev said. The company is examining possible investments in Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Venezuela and Brazil, he added.

Gazprom is currently exploring for natural gas in Venezuela and is part of a Russian consortium that hopes to develop the Junin-6 block in Venezuela's Orinoco heavy oil belt.

Medvedev said the companies were waiting for government approval of the proposed Junin-6 project. (Reporting by Robert Campbell and Edward McAllister; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

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