Brazilian engineering firm Odebrecht said on Tuesday its oil and gas division has received a US$400 million ($525 million) investment from Singapore state investor Temasek. 

“This represents the most important step in the growth of OOG,”the company said in a press release, referring to Odebrecht Oleo e Gas. 

 

That division plans to invest US$3.5 billion over the next three years to tap into Brazil's booming oil services market, which is slated for expansion as the country taps deep water oil reserves off its coast. 

 

It has received orders to build five rigs for state oil company Petrobras (PETR4.SA), which hopes to buy most of its offshore equipment from domestic suppliers in order to support the naval industry and boost the domestic economy. 

 

Temasek is the world's eighth-largest sovereign wealth fund according to UK research firm Preqin earlier this year, with a portfolio of US$134 billion as of March 31. It is the smaller of Singapore’s two sovereign wealth funds. 

 

Odebrecht Oleo e Gas also charters and operates floating platforms known as FPSOs that are widely used by Brazil’s oil industry to produce from offshore fields. 

 

Petrobras plans US$224 billion of investments over five years to turn Brazil into a major oil exporter by developing the reserves buried deep under the ocean floor in a region known as the subsalt.