Petrobras is trying to attract large Chinese shipyards to help revitalize the Brazilian shipbuilding industry. The idea is to foster partnerships between companies from the two countries to attract investment or improve the financial capacity of the national shipbuilding industry.

“We would like the Chinese to be partners in our shipyards here,” said Petrobras president Magda Chambriard. She took part in a ceremony to sign a memorandum of interest between Brazilian and Chinese shipyards to assess possibilities for partnerships and technology transfer. She said that Petrobras' large order book had attracted the interest of the Chinese. According to her, the focus is on orders for ships and support boats for offshore platforms.

“Brazil has a huge demand for ships. We need to get Brazil into the production chain,” said Ricardo Buratini, Deputy Secretary for Energy at the Civil House.

(Source: Grupo Sepé - Brazil, on July 8)