The paper presents basic concepts on nanotechnology and the use of this in an oil and gas research and development (R&D) center, the Research and Development Center Leopoldo Américo Miguez de Mello of Petrobras (CENPES). The aim of this paper is to present a proposal of an observatory of trends in the area of nanotechnology at CENPES, to generate information, such as the state of the art technologies, technological trajectories, movements of competitors and partners, and aspects relating to regulations and incentives for decision making in the technology management process.