Perenco acquires Petrobras’ hibernated assets, sets revival strategy

August 5, 2025, by Dragana Nikše

The Brazilian subsidiary of Anglo-French oil and gas player Perenco has finalized the acquisition of two concessions located in shallow waters in the Campos Basin from Brazil’s state-owned oil and gas giant Petrobras.

FSO Pargo; Source: Julien Broucaret via LinkedIn

The acquisition comprises the Cherne and Bagre fields and two fixed platforms, PCH-1 and PCH-2, as originally announced last April. The two platforms were mothballed by the Brazilian giant in early 2020, and they were later scheduled for decommissioning.

“This completion of Perenco Brazil’s acquisition of the Cherne and Bagre concessions represents a significant step change in our position in Brazil, where we have been operating since taking over the Pargo assets in October 2019,” said Armel Simondin, Perenco’s CEO.

“We will now focus on delivering on our strategy of revitalising the assets, in order to achieve our production target of 15,000 barrels of oil per day from these new concessions, and unlocking in excess of 50 mmstb of reserves.”

Perenco Brazil is targetting a production of around 15,000 barrels of oil per day in the medium term. Combined with Pargo, this is expected to result in the production of 35,000 barrels of oil per day.

One of the platforms, PCH-1, was the site of a fire that occurred on April 21, 2025, followed by an explosion. 32 workers were reportedly taken to hospitals, 14 of whom suffered burns, while others had to undergo medical treatment due to inhaling smoke.

The newly acquired assets are located in 120-140 meters of water depth, 27 kilometers from the Pargo cluster, also operated by Perenco. The Pargo cluster comprises Carapeba, Pargo, and Vermelho fields. The area is developed by eight fixed platforms.

As disclosed by Perenco, the current production from the Pargo cluster is approximately 20,0000 barrels per day, up from 2,800 barrels per day when it took over operations in October 2019. In December 2023, the firm announced first oil from its floating storage and offloading (FSO) vessel Pargo.

The Anglo-French player recently completed another acquisition, this time from Woodside Energy. Thanks to this, the firm got its hands on the Greater Angostura assets, encompassing an interest in the shallow water Angostura and Ruby offshore oil and gas fields, associated production facilities, and the onshore terminal.