The National Agency for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) reports that both oil and gas production in Brazil grew in April for the second consecutive time, compared to March and the same month of 2018. In addition, totaled 3,314 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe / d). 

In April, oil production was 2.604 million barrels per day (bbl / d), an increase of 1.7% in relation to March and 0.3% compared to the same month of the previous year. Natural gas production reached 113 million cubic meters per day (m³ / d), an increase of 1.3% over the previous month and 3.8% compared to the same month last year. 

April production data is available on the Monthly Bulletin of Petroleum and Natural Gas Production.

Pre-salt: 60% of production in Brazil 

The production of the pre-salt approached a little over 60% of the total national production, reaching 59.8%, against 59.4% in the previous month. In April, it grew 2.3% in relation to the previous month and 10.9% in comparison with the same month of 2018. This is the second consecutive time that the production of the pre-salt grows more than 10% in relation to the same period in March. The increase was 11% in March. 

In April, output from 94 wells was 1.572 million barrels of oil per day (bbl / d) and 64.9 million cubic meters of natural gas per day (m³ / d). The total was 1.980 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe / d).

Use of natural gas reaches 94.7% 

The use of natural gas in April remained stable in relation to March, corresponding to 94.7% of the total produced. 55.3 million cubic meters per day (m³ / day) were made available to the market. Gas flaring increased by 2.8% compared to the previous month and 76.5% compared to the same month in 2018. 

Gas flaring totaled 6.0 million cubic meters per day (m³ / d). The main justification for the increase in April was the continuation of the commissioning of the FPSO platforms P-76 and P-77, both located in the Búzios field.

Producer Fields 

The Lula field, in the Santos Basin, produced the most oil and gas, with an average of 873 thousand barrels of oil per day (bbl / d) and 37.2 million cubic meters of natural gas per day (m³ / day).

Origin of production 

The maritime fields produced 96.0% of the oil and 83.1% of the natural gas. The fields operated by Petrobras produced 94.6% of the oil and natural gas. The national production occurred in 7,166 wells, 671 seafarers and 6,515 terrestrial.

Highlights 

Estreito, in the Potiguar Basin, had the largest number of producing wells: 1,117. 

Marlim Sul, in the Campos Basin, was the maritime field with the largest number of producing wells: 72. 

From the FPSO Cidade de Maricá Platform, producing in the Lula Field through seven interconnected wells, were extracted 148.2 thousand barrels per day (bbl / d) and was the installation with greater production of oil. 

The Arara Azul plant, in the Arara Azul, Araracanga, Carapanaúba, Cupiúba, Urucu and Sudoeste Urucu fields, produced 8.9 million cubic meters per day (m³ / d) through 38 interconnected wells and was the installation with greater production of natural gas. 

Marginal Accumulation Fields: These fields produced 69.6 barrels of oil per day (bbl / d) and 6,600 cubic meters of natural gas per day (m³ / d). Campo de Iraí, operated by Petroborn, was the largest producer with 38.9 barrels of oil equivalent per day boe / d.

Other information

In April 2019, 306 concession areas, two onerous assignment areas and five sharing areas, operated by 34 companies, were responsible for domestic production. Of these, 79 are maritime and 234 are terrestrial. Of the total of the producing areas, 12 are related to contracts of areas containing Marginal Accumulations. 

The mean API grade was 27.6, with light oil (> = 31 ° API), 52.1% (> = API and <31 API) and 10.1% heavy oil (<22 API). 

The mature terrestrial basins (fields / long-term tests of the Espírito Santo, Potiguar, Recôncavo, Sergipe and Alagoas basins) produced 107,700 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe / d), of which 84.6 thousand barrels per day (bbl / d) of oil and 3.7 million cubic meters per day (m³ / d) of natural gas. Of this total, 100,800 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe / d) were produced by Petrobras and 6,900 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe / d), for concessions not operated by Petrobras, of which: 372 boe / d in Alagoas, 3,578 boe / d in Bahia, 27 boe / d in Espírito Santo, 2,725 boe / d in Rio Grande do Norte and 205 boe / d in Sergipe.