In PetroRio, Tanure not afraid of oil to $ 50Rio de Janeiro_ No obvious growth opportunities in Brazil, PetroRio (former HRT) is still looking out of the country in its growth ambition. The company has just suffered a defeat. Offered nearly half a billion dollars for the fields in the North Sea belonging to LetterOne background, but was defeated by a consortium joining Riverstone (one of the Barra Energia shareholders in Brazil) and the Siccar Point Energy, a company focused on the North Sea and having Blackstone as one of its controladores.Nelson Tanure The LetterOne, an investment fund of Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman, was forced to leave Britain due to the sanctions imposed by the European Union to Russia. In March 2014, the LetterOne paid 5.1 billion euros for Dea, the oil arm of the German energy company RWE. The Dea owned oil and gas fields in the North Sea, Norway, Germany and Denmark, as well as concessions in other countries. In October 2014, the British government vetoed the transaction and imposed the sale of North Sea assets in six months, as of March this year. The PetroRio was one of five companies to participate in the auction and made an offer of 450 million dollars. The winning consortium paid 700 million dollars. Tanure, the largest shareholder of PetroRio and who effectively controls the company, said it will seek other assets to internationalize the former HRT. He said there was mapped the next target, but according to company sources close to PetroRio analyzes the purchase of other fields in the North Sea itself. Just over a year later to take de facto control of PetroRio, Tanure says he is increasingly convinced that "an oil company should be at least in two countries: in Brazil and the Gulf of Mexico, or Brazil and in Angola .. and so on, "as a means of risk mitigation. Tanure also not afraid to match with the Russians. In recent months, we have already made at least two trips to Moscow for talks with Rosneft. The talks with the Russian oil began on the company that the former HRT had with Rosneft in the Solimes Basin (Rosneft ended up buying the part of the partner), but are opening the door to other businesses in the sector. In Brazil, Tanure tried but had to give up a merger between PetroRio and OGPar (formerly OGX). On paper, a union between the two companies make much sense because the Tubaro Martelo field of OGPar, is adjacent to the Polvo field (today the main asset of PetroRio), which creates significant operational synergies. In addition, the OGPar also owns a stake in the fields of Atlanta and Oliva, both in development and will start producing in a few years. But the dream will not come true, given the legal and operational complexity of OGPar that eta for bankruptcy. "Look what I've taken a lot of risk in my life, but the complexity and Intricacy problems there was something I've never seen," said Tanure. "I really wanted to do this operation, because I greatly admire Eike as entrepreneur, willing to take risk expensive." GERALDO SAMOR (VEJA MARKETS) In Brazil, Petrobras divestment program should not create opportunities for PetroRio. "The opportunities are huge, but we do not size for it. Only the majors [multinational oil] is going to buy the fields that Petrobras has put on sale. We are trying to convince Petrobras to sell mature assets and declining [the type of assets that interests the PetroRio], because it would make sense to them. " Since Tanure took control of PetroRio, cut the company's costs to the bone. "Renegotiate all contracts, we reduced our headcount [headcount] in more than 40%, and converted many contracts that were in US dollars for real when the exchange rate was still favorable," he says. Thus, a supply contract of $ 1 million, which at the exchange today was costing the company 3.5 million dollars, has been converted for months to 2.2 million. Today, the so-called lifting cost of PetroRio [the cost of removing the oil from the seabed] is $ 25 / barrel. On top of that, the company has to pay royalties and there are also administrative expense. The total cost of extraction is at about $ 36 / barrel, enough for the company still make money, since oil is $ 48 / barrel in the international market. When the National Petroleum Agency (ANP) approved the purchase of Bijupir and Salema fields, which should happen by the end of the year, Tanure estimates the cost facelift should drop to $ 20 a barrel. GERALDO SAMOR (VEJA MARKETS)