Petrobras saw its crude oil production increase by 2.6% year-over-year to 2.156 million barrels per day (bpd) in the second quarter, the Brazilian state oil and gas giant said in a production and sales report.
Output of crude oil and natural gas liquids (NGL) was 3.6% lower compared to the first quarter of the year, due to scheduled maintenance at some platforms in the second quarter.
Total oil and gas production rose by 2.4% to 2.699 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed), thanks to the ramp-up of floating platforms FPSOs Almirante Barroso, P-71, Anna Nery, Anita Garibaldi, and Sepetiba, as well as the start-up of 12 new wells from complementary projects, 8 in Campos Basin and 4 in Santos Basin.
Petrobras's oil production in Brazil's prolific offshore pre-salt basin jumped by 6.3% on the year to 1.815 million bpd in the second quarter. But output was down compared to the first quarter due to "the higher volume of losses due to scheduled stoppages and maintenance, unplanned interventions in large machines on the Búzios platforms (such as gas compression systems and turbogenerators)," the company said.
Petrobras's production is set to rise in the second half of the year, as FPSO Marechal Duque de Caxias arrived in Brazil and, in June, it was anchored in the Mero field in pre-salt Santos Basin. The platform is scheduled to start operating in the second half of this year and has the capacity to produce up to 180,000 bpd of oil, Petrobras said.
After a 25% drop in Brazilian output earlier this year, platforms are returning from maintenance and producing more oil. Earlier-than-expected starts to some projects are also set to help Brazil recover its oil output later this year, and production could exceed forecasts, some analysts say.
The rebound in Brazil's crude oil and liquids production could frustrate the market management policies of the OPEC+ group, which has a tentative plan to begin easing some of the current oil production cuts in the fourth quarter of 2024.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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