OOG’s CEO Robert Simoes told Bloomberg in an interview that the company opened offices in Angola and Mexico last year in a bet to diversify its operation and is currently under negotiations for certain contracts in the two countries.
Petrobras SA, the Brazilian state-run oil company is facing interrogations for the biggest corruption scandal in the history of the country. Following the revelation of the corrupt practices, Petrobras SA banned over 20 contractors from bidding for the new contracts. The banned contractors are believed to have been involved in the malpractices and besides OOG, they also include Camargo Correa SA and Andrade Gutierrez SA.
Moreover, the imposition of the ban came at a time when oil industry has also been suffering from the plunge in crude oil prices over the last year. OOG is taking desperate measures to get the ban on contracts lifted. The company has requested Brazil’s controller general to wind up the investigations at a faster pace so the ban imposed by Petrobras SA can be lifted.
While speaking to Bloomberg, Mr. Simoes asserted that the company’s biggest priority at present is to get the ban reversed. He added that the company is confident about its innocence and none of the executives are being interrogated for any kind of offence.
OOG, the largest construction company reported revenues of $34 billion last year. The revenues were generated from diversified operations from petrochemicals to infrastructure and arena management. According to Bloomberg, the main source of revenues for OOG remained supply of offshore rigs to Petrobras. The company also owns a production vessel in North Sea, which is operated by ConocoPhillips under a long term contract.
The corruption scandal at Petrobras SA got public in March last year when the former refining chief of the company was arrested after he faced accusations for conspiring with construction contractors in order to inflate the construction contract prices.
It is revealed that senior officials of the state-run oil giant were working with a cartel of construction firms and used to manipulate the contract prices. They would ask the contractors to invoice for higher than actual amounts, which they would pay from Petrobras SA’s accounts and then the difference was shared amongst those executives and contractors. Moreover, influential politicians were also part of the game and they also received a share of the pie in all such illicit transactions.
To date, over 100 arrests have been made, including 3 Petrobras SA’s senior executives, who have been charged with fraud, bribery and corruption. It is believed that the corrupt practices were going on for over a decade.
Petrobras SA has recently issued its long awaited 2014 financial statements in which the company has reflected a $2.05 billion worth impairment charge related to the money stolen from the company over all these years of corruption.
According to the prosecutors in the case, Carlos Lima and Deltan Dallagnol, OOG will be a part of the group of companies who will be interrogated for cartel accusation soon. Mr. Lima confirmed Bloomberg that he is sure OOG will be part of the interrogations. However, this contradicts with the company’s statement that it won all contracts through legal means and wasn’t part of any cartel. Only time and transparent investigations will confirm if OOG was part of the cartel or not.
(bidnessetc.com)
