Brazil: Petrobras announces increase in oil and gas production

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Petrobras announced a 3.4% increase in the average production of oil, natural gas liquids (NGL), and natural gas in the first quarter of this year compared to the fourth quarter of 2021. The company reached 2.8 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed) in the first quarter of 2022. The data are part of the Production and Sales Report, released on April 27.

“This result was mainly due to the increased production of the FPSOs [platform vessels] Carioca (Sepia field) and P-68 (Berbigão and Sururu fields), located in the pre-salt of Santos Basin, and the entry into operation of new wells in the post-salt in Campos Basin,” the company said.

Also helping the positive result was that production in the Pre-Salt broke the monthly record in January 2022, with 2.06 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, and the quarterly record, 2.03 million boed. This volume represents 72% of Petrobras’ total production, up from 71% in the fourth quarter of last year.

The state-owned company’s refineries are being used with a load close to the maximum projected. In March this year, the company reached 91% of the refining park’s total utilization factor (FUT) in the last week of the month. The factor in the first quarter of the year was 87%, maintaining the high level observed in the fourth quarter of 2021 and five percentage points higher than the one recorded in the same period in 2021 when there were relevant unit shutdowns.

“Petrobras is producing as much as possible within safe, sustainable, and economic conditions. The definition of the utilization level is a technical and economic decision, which considers the demand from Petrobras’ clients, the global supply alternatives, and oil and oil products prices,” highlighted Rodrigo Costa, Petrobras’ Refining and Natural Gas director.

In the short term, another positive factor for production growth was the conclusion of the FPSO Guanabara interconnection, which is scheduled to start operating in May, in the Mero field, in the Santos Basin pre-salt area.

The platform, the first definitive one in the field, can process up to 180,000 barrels of oil and 12 million cubic meters (m³) of gas. In the first phase, six producing wells and seven injection wells will be connected to the FPSO. Mero is the third-largest pre-salt oil field, behind only Búzios and Tupi.

“The Guanabara FPSO is the most complex oil production unit operating in Brazil. The implementation of a project with this technology results from more than a decade of learning in the pre-salt. The project was conceived to combine production capacity, efficiency, and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions,” said João Henrique Rittershaussen, Production Development Director at Petrobras.

With information from Agência Brasil