Brazil’s oil production jumps 20% to new record in January

Brazil’s oil production jumped by 20.4 percent on the year to set a new production record of 3.168 million barrels per day (bpd) in January, thanks to the prolific pre-salt basin, oil regulator ANP said on Wednesday.

Last month, Brazil’s total oil and natural gas production also set a new production record, exceeding 4 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) for the first time ever, the regulator said, noting that combined oil and gas production stood at 4.041 million boe/d.    

Oil production in January 2020 rose by 2 percent compared to December 2019 and by 20.43 percent compared to January 2019, ANP said.  

In January 2020, Brazil’s production in the pre-salt area totaled 2.682 million boed, accounting for 66.37 percent of all oil and natural gas production. Oil output in the pre-salt area hit 2.150 million bpd last month, the regulator said. The pre-salt oilfield Lula was the single biggest oil producer in the country, pumping on average 1.052 million bpd.

Earlier this month, state oil firm Petrobras announced that it had set another production record in the last quarter of 2019, producing more than 3 million bpd of oil equivalent throughout the period.

Brazil’s pre-salt area is expected to further boost the country’s oil production this year, according to OPEC’s latest Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) in February.

Brazil will be the third-largest growth driver of non-OPEC supply in 2020 after the US and Norway, according to OPEC. The cartel sees non-OPEC supply growing by 2.25 million bpd, with Brazil’s production rising by 310,000 bpd this year.

Since June 2019, Brazil’s crude oil production had surged by 550,000 bpd within six months, thanks to the Lula, Buzios, Sapinhoá, Jubarte, and Sul De Lula fields, which boosted production from the pre-salt horizon in the deepwater Santos Basin to average 1.74 million bpd in 2019, OPEC said in its report earlier this month.   

This article was originally published on Oilprice.com