Transpetro will not delay tanker orders

Transpetro, the transport unit of Petroleo Brasileiro SA, will be able to maintain a 49-tanker fleet expansion program because it has sufficient financing from a government fund and can ignore the world credit crunch, the unit’s president said. Brazil’s Merchant Marine Fund, managed by state-development bank BNDES, has enough cash to pay the $2.5 billion needed for 26 tankers that have already been ordered, said Sergio Machado, president of Rio de Janeiro-based Transpetro. The fund can also finance another 23 ships that will be ordered by the end of the year, he said.

State-controlled Petrobras, may delay some investments as oil prices fall and credit becomes scarce, Chief Executive Officer Jose Sergio Gabrielli said recently. The credit crunch may force the cancellation of 20 % of the deepwater oil rigs under construction, Brian Uhlmer, analyst at Pritchard Capital Partners in Houston, said.

“Everything regarding our shipbuilding program is defined and is part of Brazil’s strategic plan,” Machado said in a phone interview from his office. The Transpetro program is fully financed.”

Machado said he could not comment on plans for other Petrobras shipbuilding programs. His parent company plans to build 146 tugs and service vessels and 68 oil platforms and oil drilling rigs on its own. These ships are not part of Transpetro’s operations.

The service ships, platforms and rigs are expected to cost $30 to $40 billion.

Brazilian shipyards building vessels for the Transpetro program include Estaleiro Maua, controlled by Brazil’s Synergy Group in Rio de Janeiro and Estaleiro Atlantico

Sul near Recife, Brazil.