Brazilian state-owned oil company Petrobras planned to invest in refineries in Europe, the United States and Asia, the company's president Jose Sergio Gabrielli said on Friday.

Gabrielli made the statement in a panel presentation, titled "Brazilian Oil and Gas Perspectives, a National Oil Company Approach," during the 23rd World Gas Conference held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Petrobras would increase its oil production in the next few years, so the company wanted to ensure it would have enough refining capacity to meet the demand, Gabrielli said, adding that Petrobras planned to acquire assets and establish partnerships with other companies in the three regions.

"In the next few years, Petrobras will need to be able to refine an additional 150,000 crude oil barrels a day in plants abroad," Gabrielli said, "We are going to be a huge producer of crude oil ... we need to be able to process it."

Meanwhile, Petrobras announced the purchase of 51 percent of the shares of Gaseba Uruguay S.A, a natural gas distributor located in Montevideo, Uruguay. The company supplies natural gas to over 1.4 million inhabitants of Montevideo's metropolitan area.

Source: Xinhua