Oil and natural gas output breaks record in July

The total production of oil and natural gas in the country hit a record 2.82 million barrels equivalent per day (boepd) in July, reported the National Agency for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (“ANP”) on Tuesday (Sep 2). Of this amount, 2.267 million barrels of oil per day (bpd) and 87.9 million cubic meters (m³) of natural gas were reported.

The oil output was up 1% in July from the previous month, and 14.8% in the year-earlier comparison. The production of natural gas was also reported to rise 1.5% compared to June this year, and 12% to the same month in 2013.

However, a dip of 0.1% was observed in the production of 34 pre-salt wells in July against June, totaling 582.8 thousand boepd—480.8 thousand bpd plus 16.2 million m³ of natural gas. In the July on July analysis, there has been a expansion: in 2013, the average pre-salt production reached 358.8 thousand boepd—296.4 bpd and 9.9 million m³ of natural gas per day.

According to the agency, 90.7% of the oil and natural gas were produced in fields operated by Petrobras. Out of the total figure, 92.5% of oil and 73.5% of natural gas were extracted from offshore oilfields.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira