Brazil has moved into the ranks of major oil powers. In October, national oil production averaged 4.03 million barrels per day, more than 23% higher than a year earlier. It was the first month in which the country crossed the 4 million-barrel line.
The engine of this surge is the ultra-deep pre-salt offshore belt, now responsible for about 81% of Brazilian production. Pre-salt fields pumped roughly 3.3 million barrels of oil and more than 150 million cubic metres of gas per day in October.
Petrobras remains the central actor. The state-controlled company produced around 2.5 to 2.6 million barrels per day in Brazil, more than half a million barrels above last year thanks to new units.
Recent platforms such as Almirante Tamandaré in the Búzios field, the gas-rich Mero field units and the Maria Quitéria platform in Jubarte are driving the increase.
Maria Quitéria alone can produce 100,000 barrels of oil and process 5 million cubic metres of gas daily, with emissions roughly a quarter lower than older platforms. International companies are reinforcing the trend.
Shell’s Brazilian output has climbed to about 413,000 barrels per day, while TotalEnergies has increased production to roughly 189,000 barrels.
Brazil’s oil surge grows while gas limits hold back progress
New discoveries, including BP’s recent Bumerangue find in the Santos Basin, point to a long project pipeline. Gas data tell a more mixed tale. Brazil produced nearly 195 million cubic metres of natural gas per day in October, but only about a third reached the market.
More than 108 million cubic metres were reinjected into reservoirs and a smaller share was burnt, reflecting limited pipelines and processing capacity. The geopolitical consequences are already visible.
Oil has overtaken soy as Brazil’s main export, reserves are estimated at almost 17 billion barrels, and the country now sits at the OPEC+ table as a cooperative partner while insisting it will set its own production path.
Business leaders hail the new record as proof that Brazil can anchor long-term investment and energy security. Environmental groups warn of the climate contradiction as the country prepares to host COP30, but for now the loudest argument is over how to use the windfall rather than how to halt the boom.