Rio de Janeiro – Brazilian daily oil production reached a record figure in August. The figures were disclosed today (16) by the Natural Gas and Biofuel director at the National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuel Agency (ANP), Victor Martins. He also pointed out the production of natural gas, the second largest in history, was only lower than that in June.
“August production was a historic record for Brazil, representing 2.078 million barrels of oil [a day] and 62 million cubic metres of gas a day, which configures a volume of 2.471 million barrels of oil equivalent, record production," said the ANP director during Rio Oil & Gas – a fair that brings together the main global companies in the sector.
He said that the record volumes – which represented growth of 6% in production of oil and 10% in gas, as against August 2009 – show how correct the government policy in the area is. “This means that we are on the right route, expanding production, and that the policy developed for attraction of new partners to support activities in the oil sector is a great success. It is very good for the country to reach a level of production that exceeds self-sufficiency with such great margins."
In coming months, the director at the ANP hopes for production to continue rising in a consistent manner. “They are projects that are being developed, maturing and starting to operate. It is the development of a process. This shows that Brazil is consolidating itself as a producer of oil."
He also pointed out the growing participation of private companies in production, though it is still greatly concentrated on Petrobras. “Foreign companies are starting to participate, among them Shell and Chevron, although 91% of production is still in the hands of Petrobras.”
Victor estimated that there should be growth of foreign companies in coming years. "I believe that both Petrobras production should grow as should that of other companies that believe in Brazil, research, invest and develop their projects."
Figures show that Rio de Janeiro is responsible for 78% of national production, with 1.624 million barrels a day in the month. Another eight states also produced: Espírito Santo (240,600 barrels a day), Rio Grande do Norte (58,100 barrels), Bahia (45,400 barrels), Sergipe (40,300 barrels), Amazonas (36,600 barrels), São Paulo (18,600 barrels), Ceará (8,700 barrels) and Alagoas (5,400 barrels).
*Translated by Mark Ament
