DEA to Expand in Brazil

DEA, the Hamburg-based E&P firm owned by Russia-backed Luxembourg-based fund LetterOne, has opened up in Brazil.

It already founded a subsidiary there in 2013, but followed that up with the opening of an office in Rio de Janeiro earlier this month. It announced June 19 that Christoph Schlichter has been appointed DEA general manager for Brazil. DEA said it plans to take part in future bidding rounds in order to acquire licenses, and to analyse opportunities for farm-ins to existing (offshore) licenses there.

“We’re interested in a long-term commitment in the region and are prepared to make relevant investments,” says DEA CEO Thomas Rappuhn, marking a widening of DEA's current focus in Germany, Norway, Denmark, Egypt and Algeria.

Schlichter added: “DEA’s aim is to establish itself as an operator in Brazil.” He joined DEA in 2001, was its UK managing director from 2002 to 2008. Subsequently he was in charge of DEA operations across North Africa, becoming DEA general manager in Libya and Algeria in February 2016.

German utility RWE completed its divestment of upstream firm DEA to LetterOne in March 2015. But the UK government forced LetterOne to divest DEA assets offshore Britain, chiefly stakes in the Breagh and Clipper South gas fields, which were acquired by Ineos later in 2015. The delayed start-up of the DEA-operated Breagh field, coupled to low oil prices, led to cashflow problems at Canadian partner Sterling Resources which this May sold off its Breagh stake and began winding itself up.

Mark Smedley