Petrobras and its logistics arm Transpetro have signed new contracts worth about 2.8 billion reais (roughly $520 million) to build a fleet of gas carriers, barges and pushboats, advancing a major domestic shipbuilding push under Brazil’s Mar Aberto (Open Sea) Program. The deal was formalized at a ceremony in Rio Grande do Sul attended by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, underscoring his wider priority of revitalizing Brazil’s maritime industrial base. Under the contracts, the Rio Grande shipyard will build five…