KUALA LUMPUR: Yinson Holdings Bhd ’s US$3bil of investments in Brazil’s energy sector is set to grow when it gets the greenlight to proceed with its proposed wind farms in north-eastern Brazil.
Group chief executive officer Lim Chern Yuan said the group is awaiting the final investment decision (FID) from the government there to proceed with the projects and will further reaffirm Brazil as its biggest market with three of nine floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels contracted there.
“We have a successful delivery of the FPSO Anna Neary last year and have done a refinancing of the capital via a bond issue and plan to put that capital back into Brazil with delivery of two FPSOs this year.
“We also have development work on wind farms in Brazil in the renewable energy (RE) space. We have secured the land and are getting approvals from the government for the greenfield project. We have secure transmission space and we get the FID for this project could eventually see us invest up to US$500mil,” he told StarBiz at the Brazil-Malaysia Energy & Investment Forum here yesterday.
The expected combined installed capacity of the wind energy projects could hit as much as 486MW, according to Yinson’s website.
Yinson and local companies like Sapura Energy Bhd are currently undertaking development works on the Atlanta deepwater oil field in the Santos basin offshore Brazil, reaffirming the growing trade and investment opportunities between the two countries.
Brazilian ambassador to Malaysia Ary Norton de Murat Quintella said trade between Brazil and the Asean countries in the first quarter of 2024 had surpassed trade between Brazil and its partners of Mercosur or Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
“In 2023, Malaysia alone was the 14th destination of Brazilian exports, marking a continued and large increase throughout the last decade. The energy sector has been fundamental to this process of strengthening our ties.
“More importantly, the energy sector is one of the main vectors for trade and for mutual investments between Brazil and Malaysia, particularly with regards to the investments that Malaysian companies, including Petroliam Nasional Bhd, Sapura and Yinson, have made in Brazil,” he said, adding the collaboration on energy has become a cornerstone of the bilateral partnership.
Yinson’s interest in the RE space in Brazil comes as the country has the most sustainable energy matrix in the world with 55% of renewables, while oil and gas accounted for around 45% of the energy matrix.
Ary Norton said opportunities abound for Malaysian companies to explore opportunities in Brazil particularly in the energy sector.
“The Embassy of Brazil has made a priority to promote partnerships between our national and private sectors. We stand ready to work with you to increase Malaysian investments in Brazil, as well as to increase Brazilian investments in Malaysia. This includes mutual investments in oil and gas, as well as on renewable energy production and on biofuels,” he said.