The recent theft of strategic data from Brazil's state-run energy giant Petrobras (PETR4.SA: Quote, Profile, Research)(PBR.N: Quote, Profile, Research) appears to be just one of a handful of potential corporate espionage incidents involving a huge new oil reserve off the country's southern coast.
Fernando Siqueira, the director of the Association of Petrobras Engineers, said the Brazilian company has been increasingly targeted by thieves since it discovered last year a giant reserve in the Santos basin that could make it one of the world's major oil producers.
"This was not the first time" that Petrobras has had data stolen, Siqueira told Reuters in an interview on Friday. "I have information that in the last year and a half, laptops have been stolen from several technicians involved in that area."
On Thursday, Petrobras confirmed that four laptops and two RAM memory chips were stolen in late January from a transport container owned by the U.S. oil-field service company Halliburton (HAL.N: Quote, Profile, Research), a longtime Petrobras business partner.
Halliburton declined to comment, referring inquiries to Petrobras. Petrobras has not specified the nature of the data that was stolen, other than to say that it was "important."
But Brazil's Federal Police, which is investigating the theft, said on Friday that the data came from a drilling ship in the Santos basin, where the recently discovered Tupi field is located.
Siqueira, a former exploration and production engineer at Petrobras, said that 30 years of company research worth up to $2 billion have ended up in unknown hands.
"This is data detailing the total composition of the field, which allows you to know exactly where to drill," he said. "Whoever obtains this data will get enough strategic information for future exploration and drilling in the area."
Siqueira added that the Association of Petrobras Engineers plans to send a letter to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva requesting that future oil exploration bloc auctions be canceled until the incident is clarified.
The government already withdrew all blocs close to the Tupi field from the last round of bidding, arguing that more research on the reserve was needed before the blocs could be auctioned.
Siqueira also said the association would ask that the Brazilian Navy be deployed to the Santos basin to help protect Petrobras' platforms, which he said were now vulnerable.
That request dovetails with plans outlined by Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim, who is leading a campaign for Brazil to build a nuclear-propelled submarine to patrol its oil-rich waters. (Translated by Todd Benson, editing by Matthew Lewis)
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKN1559270320080215?sp=true
No comments:
Post a Comment