Crude oil production in Brazil went above their million barrels per day (bpd) in November last year for the first time, marking an important milestone for the country’s oil sector.
Citing data from the Brazilian National Petroleum Agency, S&P Global Platts reports that a 100,000 bpd boost to oil production between October and November resulted from the continuing ramping-up of eight recent floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessels. Overall, the country’s oil production is now 20% higher than the same period a year ago. Total oil and gas production also reached a new record daily high of 3.95 million barrels of oil equivalent.
The surge in the country’s oil production has come mainly thanks to its presalt zone, which has become even more of a hotbed of activity following the Brazilian Government’s $9bn settlement with Petrobas over an area in the zone. In fact, over two million bpd of crude oil in November came from the presalt zone, with just a million bpd of that coming from the Lula field alone. Additionally, both the second- and third-most productive fields in Brazil are also in the presalt zone.
It is therefore unsurprising that there is so much interest in the region. In addition to Petrobas, which is semi-public but mostly owned by the Brazilian government, other multinationals have also won blocks for exploration and production, including Equinor, ExxonMobil, and Shell, some of which also make raw materials and lubricant products from the refined crude oil.
