São Paulo –Brazil reached a record level of oil output last month. According to data released this Friday (3rd) by the National Agency of Petroleum (ANP in the Portuguese acronym), oil and gas output amounted to 2.89 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) in August. According to the ANP, this is the largest volume ever produced in the country. The previous record had been set in July, with the production of 2.82 million boe/d.
From this amount, 2.326 million barrels of oil and 90.9 million cubic metres of gas were produced. Oil output was up 2.6% from July this year and up 15.7% from August last year. Gas output was up 3.4% from July and up 18.1% from August 2013.
The ANP announced that production in pre-salt has also increased. Output at the layer amounted to 533,000 barrels of oils and 18.1 million cubic metres of natural gas per day, reaching a combined 647,000 boe/d. This volume is an increase of 11% from July.
According to the ANP, 91.8% of the national output was obtained at oilfields operated by Petrobras, followed by national subsidiaries of Norwegian company Statoil, by Anglo-Dutch Shell, by Parnaíba Gás and by North American Chevron Frade. Overall, 23 companies managed 308 concessions in August. From the oil producing states, Rio de Janeiro accounted for 1.799 million barrels, or 68.5% of the national output, Espírito Santo accounted for 379.7 million (16.3%) and São Paulo accounted for 172.8 million barrels of oil (7.4% from the national total).
Maritime fields accounted for 92.8% of the oil output and 74.1% of the gas output. Just as in July, the Roncador field, in the Campos Basin, had the largest output of oil, averaging at 287,800 bpd. The largest producer of natural gas was the Mexilhão field, in the Santos Basin, which averaged at 7.5 million cubic metres.
*Translated by Rodrigo Mendonça
