| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | oil exploration gas exploration refineries pipeline transport development electricity generation engineering |
| Founded | 1948 |
| Headquarters | Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Key people | Alejandro Bulgheroni (Chairman) Carlos Bulgheroni (CEO) |
| Products | refined petroleum fuel natural gas electricity |
| Revenue | US$600 million (1997)[1] |
| Profit | US$310 million (1997)[1] |
Bridas Corporation is an independent oil and gas holding company based in Argentina. Since March 2010 it is 50% owned by China National Offshore Oil Corporation.[2]
Bridas Corporation was founded by the Bulgheroni family in 1948, and grew to become the second-largest producer of fossil fuels in Argentina (after the formerly state-owned YPF), with production of over 78 million boe in 2004.[3] Bridas has focused in the South America Southern Cone and Central Asia. Its activities includes four principal areas of operations:
Bridas began expanding into the Central Asian energy sector in 1987, and secured its first large-scale contract (gas exploration rights in Turkmenistan), in 1992.[5] Between 1995 and 1997, CEO Carlos Bulgheroni was personally involved in negotiations between Bridas and the governments of Pakistan and Turkmenistan, as well as the ruling Taliban faction in Afghanistan, to build the Trans-Afghanistan Gas Pipeline.[6] These negotiations were in competition with those undertaken by Unocal,[7] and although an agreement with Unocal-led corporation CentGas was reached, the deal was forfeited in January 1998 in favor of one with Bridas.[8] Instability in Afghanistan delayed construction of the pipeline, however, and following the United States Invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, the Bridas contract was rescinded in favor of the former one with Unocal. In 2006, Bulgheroni indicated interest in Bridas' involvement with the Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline project, which continued to be hampered by the ongoing war in the Central Asian nation.[9]
The Bulgheroni family sold 60% of Bridas to Amoco in 1997 for US$550 million,[1] and in turn, established a joint venture with British Petroleum, Pan American Energy; Bridas and BP purchased Houston-based Allis-Chalmers, in 2006. The company sold its 40% stake therein and other assets, totaling an estimated US$5 billion (around half the company's total), in 2005 to China National Petroleum,[3] in a bid to gain greater access to the growing Chinese energy market.[6]
On November 28, 2010 it was announced that Bridas would acquire the 60% interest in Pan American Energy it didn't already own from British Petroleum for $7.06 billion in cash (cash deposit of $3.53 billion). The main reason for BP selling it is to raise money to cover costs assosicated with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill (the divesture brings the value of assets sold by BP to $21 billion since the oil spill).[2]