Rio de Janeiro – Brazil can become one of the five major oil exporters in 2026. The forecast made by the director of Oil, Gas and Biofuels Studies of the Energy Research Office (EPE), José Mauro Ferreira Coelho, is based on the combination of production increase and the lack of expansion of the oil refinery area in the country.
He said that the production increase has been constant and that the outlook points to a continuation of this pace in the next few years. Studies by EPE shows that, in 2026, the country will reach 5.2 million barrels of oil equivalent (oil and gas) per day, while the refinery park has a capacity of processing around 2.2 million barrels.
“What we see on a ten-year horizon is a difficulty in new investments in refinery and that we will be exporting around three million oil barrels in 2026. Besides being a major producer, which is significant, we will be a major exporter, exporting three million oil barrels per day. This will place Brazil among the world’s five major oil exporters. Quite possibly we will trail only, in export levels, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq and Canada,” he said.
Currently, Brazil is among the world’s top ten in oil production. According to data by the International Energy Agency (IEA), with an average daily production, in 2017, of 3.2 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE), in addition to reach ninth place, Brazil has surpassed Kuwait, one of the member countries of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
“Without a doubt, Brazil will achieve a greater role in the oil sector than the currently one and the one being estimated by the International Energy Agency (IEA) for 2018. It can go higher in the ranking,” said the EPE director.
Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
