Petrobras booked a virtually flat crude oil production for the first quarter of the year, at 2.77 million barrels daily, down by 0.2% on the first quarter of 2024. It was up by 5.4% sequentially, however, the Brazilian state energy major reported.
Production of crude specifically registered a decline of 1%, to 2.21 million barrels daily, Reuters reported, citing the company’s first-quarter report.
Petrobras attributed the overall quarterly increase in oil and gas production to lower losses resulting from maintenance-related suspensions of operations, improved efficiency at fields in the Santos Basin, the addition of a new floating production, storage, and offloading vessel at the Buzios field, and the ramp up at another FPSO at the Mero field.
The company noted, however, that the ramp-up was partially offset by a natural decline in production at some fields.
Earlier this year, the Brazilian state oil company reported a new discovery at the Buzios field that could boost production from that field to 2 million barrels daily by 2030. Currently, the field produces around 800,000 barrels daily.
Also earlier this year, Petrobras said its proven oil and gas reserves increased by 500 million barrels last year, from 10.9 billion barrels to 11.4 billion barrels. As much as 85% of this total was in the form of crude oil and condensates, with the remainder natural gas, Petrobras also said. The company also added 1.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent to its total reserves, while production came in at 900 million barrels of oil equivalent.
Petrobras’s plans for production growth focused on greater recovery rates at existing fields and stemming natural depletion processes. Its investment plan for the five years to 2029 stands at $111 billion. Of this, $77 billion was earmarked for oil and gas exploration and production activities. The total budget was revised $10 billion higher in late 2024 from its original version.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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