Opportunities have opened up for smaller E&P firms
Latin American divestment drive opens door to buyers
Portfolio rebalancing is helping boost M&A activity across the continent
Latin American NOCs were looking to move their portfolios down the cost curve even before the pandemic hit. But extreme market volatility over the past year—combined with the threat posed by the energy transition—has accelerated this trend, creating investment opportunities for many smaller E&P firms. Brazilian state oil company Petrobras is leading divestment activity in the region. The NOC has offloaded around 150 oil and gas fields over the past three years. And the company hopes to sell down its stakes in another 118. Petrobras’ upstream focus is on deepwater pre-salt production, boosted by falling lifting costs. In Q1, the Brazilian operator agreed to offload the Miranga cluster of
Also in this section
13 March 2026
Brussels is again weighing a cap on gas prices amid the Hormuz crisis, but the measure could backfire by deterring the LNG cargoes Europe urgently needs
12 March 2026
Emergency oil stocks provide a last line of defence to oil market shocks, so the IEA’s unprecedented 400m bl release represents something of a double-edged sword
12 March 2026
LPG could rapidly expand access to clean cooking across Africa and prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths from indoor air pollution each year, but infrastructure shortages and regulatory barriers are slowing investment and market growth
11 March 2026
Missiles over Dubai and disruption in Hormuz are testing the emirate’s reputation—and shaking the energy hub at the centre of the Gulf economy
