Risk Assessment Comparison in Developing Offshore Markets : Brazil and Angola : A Risk Assessment Framework for Companies exploring the Pre-salt Business Opportunities

Abstract

This dissertation was written in the context of the pre - salt findings and the consequential business opportunities that these discoveries represented for the of fshore industry. The authors, throughout their Master studies, were exposed to lectures and participated in discussions with professionals from the Offshore and Shipping industries and with academics from such areas. The authors identified, during such in teractions, the lack of literature focusing in the internationalization to emerging offshore markets. The opportunities of gains presented by pre - salt basins’ countries are vast, however equally are the challenges, as business practices and conditions vari ed deeply from the investors’ home countries. Therefore, this work aims at developing a risk assessment that could be used for companies and academics when evaluating internationalization to Brazil and Angola, where some of the biggest pre - salt discoveries were made in recent years. The research methods focused on literature review and case studies approach, alongside interviews and participation in seminars and company presentations. The interviews were performed with professionals, from academic and corp orate sectors, who had been in contact with the oil and gas industry in Angola or Brazil, or both. The authors believe that the main contribution of this work is the development of a seminal risk assessment framework for companies aiming to internationaliz e to the offshore industry in emerging markets. The findings and the proposed assessment are presented after a detailed analysis of each country. The biggest research limitation was the lack of scientific literature and available financial data from compan ies , which rendered the research design of this work qualitative . T he authors invite other academics and professionals to expand the proposed framework and continue the production of scientific papers that focus on the pre - salt opportunities.