Petrobras sees record annual oil output

Brazilian oil giant Petrobras has reported that its average oil production in Brazil achieved a “historical record” for the fourth consecutive year.

Petrobras said on Tuesday that the company’s oil production in 2017 reached 2.15 million barrels per day, some 0.4 percent above the previous year’s result.

For the third year in a row, the company met its production target, confirming the predictability of its projections.

The company added that its natural gas production reached an unprecedented volume of 79.6 million cubic meters per day in 2017. As such, total production in the country reached 2.65 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, a volume 0.9% higher than in 2016, a new record for Petrobras.

The average annual production operated in the pre-salt layer which includes the portions of Petrobras and its partners in 2017 was also the largest in the company’s history, reaching the mark of 1.29 million bpd.

This volume exceeded the 2016 production by 26%. Also, Petrobras and its partners achieved monthly and daily records in this layer. The new monthly record was 1.36 million bpd in December while the daily record of 1.48 million bpd was noted on December 4, 2017.

The main highlights for production expansion in 2017 were the production growth in the Lula field, resulting from the interconnection of new wells to FPSOs Cidade de Saquarema, Cidade de Maricá, and Cidade de Itaguaí, in addition to the start of operations at the P-66 platform and interconnection of new wells to FPSO Cidade de Caraguatatuba. Another important factor was the start of production at FPSO Pioneiro de Libra, which operates in the Mero field, also in Santos Basin’s pre-salt layer.

Petrobras’ gas utilization index in Brazil also achieved a record in 2017, reaching a level of 96.5%. The oil company said that the result was a consequence of advances made in recent years by the Gas Utilization Optimization Program.

Oil and gas production in December

In December 2017, total oil and natural gas production was 2.72 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, 2.62 million boed of which produced in Brazil and 100,000 boed produced abroad.

The average oil production in the country was 2.13 million barrels per day, in line with the volume produced in November. Natural gas production, excluding the liquefied volume, was 77.9 million m3/d.

Meanwhile, the oil and natural gas production operated in the pre-salt layer was 1.68 million boed, 2% above the previous month.

The average oil production abroad in December amounted to 60 million bpd, and the average production of natural gas was 6.7 m3/d.

International oil and gas production in 2017

Internationally, average oil production abroad in 2017 was 64,000 bpd, 20% below the volume produced in the previous year. The average natural gas production was 8.3 million m3/day, 39% below the 2016 production. The reduction resulted mainly from the divestments made, such as the sale of Petrobras Argentina.

Considering Brazil and abroad, the average production of oil alone, in 2017, amounted to 2.22 million bpd, and the average annual production of oil and gas was 2.77 million boed.