Brazilian state oil company Petrobras wants its new e-procurement portal, Procurement Negocios Eletronicos (PNE), to handle 80% of its purchases within five years.

Last year the oil giant dealt with a total of 1,100 suppliers, purchasing some US$1.8bn in supplies, of which 80% were acquired from Brazilian companies.

Petrobras expects to save at least 20% on its supplies purchasing as a result of the portal. The company created the portal mainly to help reduce acquisition costs and to improve the quality of the procurement process.

The portal is in the works and will be ready for launch in June. Last month the company closed deals with the software suppliers and systems integrators that will play key roles in developing the portal.

Undisclosed stakes in the new portal have been purchased by US-based consulting firm Accenture and German e-business solutions provider SAP. Petrobras itself plans to invest US$4mn during the 2003-04 period, and will stay open to the possibility of welcoming other partners into the portal. “If in two or three years another oil and gas company wants to join the portal as a buyer, we are open to discussion,” supplies manager Luis Fernando Mendoca says.

Another Petrobras supplies manager, Claudio Luiz Froes Raeder, will manage the portal.

Petrobras is already active in B2B on the sales side. The oil company registered 90% of its US$18bn revenues in 2002 through its B2B portal “Canal Cliente”. The 400 clients that use the portal represent 70% of the company’s customer portfolio. Canal Cliente is free to companies that had previously been selected by Petrobras’ commercial department, based on billing volumes and historical references.

Canal Cliente began operations in 1998 with initial capital of US$10,000. The portal started as a static publication providing commercial information on Petrobras. After a US$1mn capital injection in 2000, it began operating as a B2B.

Petrobras is

  • Brazil’s largest company in terms of revenues.