Oil and Gas Production in Brazil

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The exploration and production of oil and natural gas in Brazil has been on the rise and, as anticipated, the volume of proven reserves in the country has increased in recent years. In 2014, Brazil had 16.2 billion barrels (bbl) of proven oil reserves and 471 billion cubic meters (m3) of proven natural gas reserves, reflecting an increase from 2004 reserves, in both oil and gas, of 44 percent.1 Brazil also produced 822.9 million bbl of oil and 31.9 billion m3 of natural gas in 2014, which shows, respectively, a 52 percent and 88 percent growth from 2004 [Exhibits 1 and 2].[2]

In 2015, the production from January to June totaled 437 million bbl of oil and 17.2 billion m3 of natural gas, representing an increase of 13 percent and 13.9 percent, respectively, from the same period in the previous year.[3] It is worth noting that the majority of the oil and gas production in Brazil comes from offshore areas [Exhibits 3 and 4].

This year, the main producing field for oil has been Roncador, which is located in the Campos sedimentary basin, and for natural gas production, Lula, which is located in the Santos sedimentary basin.[4] The platform with the highest production during 2015 has been P-52, which is situated in the Roncador field. Rio de Janeiro is the state that has had the highest oil and gas production in the country since 2010, even though it is limited to just offshore production. In 2014, Rio de Janeiro’s production accounted for 68.4 percent of the oil production and 34.8 percent of the natural gas production for the entire country.[5] The fields operated by Petrobrás represent an average of 92.6 percent of the oil and gas produced in Brazil during this year.

The production in the pre-salt area has been increasing at a fast pace [Exhibit 5]. Oil and gas production in this area has increased 500 percent since 2011, and currently represents 30.89 percent of the total production in the country. According to Petrobrás, on June 26 a new record of oil daily production in the pre-salt area was achieved: 811 thousand barrels per day (bbl/d).[6] The average production for the month of June 2015, in the pre-salt area, was 751.2 thousand bb/d of oil and 27.8 million m3 per day (m3/d) of natural gas, totaling 926.1 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d).

 

[1] ANP - Publicação dos Dados de Reservas de Petróleo e Gás Natural do Brasil
[2] ANP/Bdep - Produção de Petróleo e Gás Natural por Estado (2000-2014)
[3] ANP - Produção Nacional de Petróleo e Gás Natural
[4] ANP - Boletins Mensais de Produção de Petróleo e Gás Natural
[5] ANP/Bdep - Produção de Petróleo e Gás Natural por Campo 2014
[6] Acesso: here and here.

DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.

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