Brazilian oil company Petrobras said its average oil and natural gas production was 2.48 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed) in Brazil, and 178,000 boed abroad, totaling 2.65 million boed. Also, the company broke its monthly pre-salt layer output record.
Oil production averaged 2 million barrels per day (bpd) in Brazil, remaining in line with the previous month, due to the continuation of scheduled maintenance stoppages in the platforms.
Pre-salt oil production
In February, the company’s oil and gas production in the pre-salt layer grew 6.1% over the previous month to 1.091 million boed, a new monthly record, exceeding the December 2015 figure of 1.090 million boed. In January, oil and gas production in the pre-salt layer came to 1.029 million boed.
The company’s oil output grew 6.2% between January and February, from 822,000 bpd to 874,000 bpd. On February 15, the company posted a new daily production record of 954,000 bpd.
The startup of the Cidade de Maricá FPSO, installed in the Lula Alto area, in the Lula field, in the pre-salt layer of the Santos Basin, contributed to these results. This FPSO unit, a floating platform that produces, storages and transfers oil, has a capacity to produce up to 150,000 bpd.
Another two major final production systems are scheduled for startup in the pre-salt layer in 2016: the Lula Central project (Cidade de Saquarema FPSO) and the Lapa project (Cidade de Caraguatatuba FPSO).
Natural gas production
The company’s natural gas production in Brazil, excluding liquefied volume, averaged 75.4 million m³/day, 1.8% higher than in January (74.1 million m³/day).
Oil and gas production abroad
In February, oil production abroad averaged 84,000 bpd, 8.4% less than the 92,000 bpd recorded the month before, chiefly due to the maintenance stoppages (already concluded) in the production units in the Akpo field, in Nigeria, and in the Cascade and Chinook fields, in the USA.
Natural gas output averaged 16 million m³/d, a 3.5% increase over the 15.5 million recorded in the previous month.
As a result, oil and natural gas production abroad totaled 178,000 boed in February, 2.5% below the 183,000 boed produced in the previous month.