Petrobras’ consolidated oil and gas production in Brazil and abroad reached 2.781 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed) in September, up 0.8% on the August figure of 2.759 million boed.

Oil production in Brazil 0.6 up on the August figure

Oil production in Brazil averaged 2.118 million barrels per day (bpd), up 0.6 percent on the August figure of 2.105 million bpd.

Total domestic oil production, which includes the part Petrobras manages for its partner companies, reached 2.239 million bpd in September, up 0.3% on the August figure of 2.232 million bpd, to achieve a record figure for the third consecutive month.

Total oil and gas production

Total oil and gas production in Brazil in September also set another record. It was up 0.5% on the August figure (2.551 million boed) at 2.565 million boed. Total oil and natural gas produced by Petrobras in Brazil, which includes the part managed for partner companies, also peaked to a new record of 2.743 million boed in September, up 0.3% on August (2.736 million boed).

Production growth

Growth in production was mainly the result of a ramp-up in output from platforms P-55 and P-62, in the Roncador field (Campos Basin), and on FPSO Cidade de Paraty, in Lula Nordeste (Santos Basin).

In September, six new offshore wells (5 production and 1 injection) were brought into operation, which means that a total of 53 new wells have been started up in 2014.

With the arrival of three Pipe Laying Support Vessels (PLSV) - Sapura Topázio, Coral Atlantico and NO 102 - in September, Petrobras now has a fleet of 18 vessels. Deployment of a further vessel is planned by the end of this year.

September saw output from the pre-salt layer at 532,000l bpd, and on September 18 we hit a record for daily output from the Santos and Campos Basin pre-salt - 618,000 bpd. These figures include the part managed by Petrobras for its partner companies. It is worth noting that after well RJS-674 came online (September 10), FPSO Cidade de Paraty reached maximum capacity of 120,000 bpd receiving a feed from only four production wells and matching the performance of the FPSO Cidade de São Paulo in the Sapinhoá field (Santos Basin).

Production Shutdowns and Operational Efficiency

In line with the company’s plans, scheduled maintenance shutdowns were carried out on some platforms. In September, there was a temporary interruption of 44,000 bpd in average monthly production. But the Operational Efficiency Increase Program (Proef), launched in 2012, continued to show excellent results in September. For example, the Campos Basin Operational Unit reached it highest efficiency in the past 50 month, at 82.9%, and output for the past 20 months peaked at 420,000 bpd.

New platforms in 2014

New production systems will come online by the end of this year to guarantee sustained output grown in line with the 2014-2018 Petrobras Business and Management Plan.

FPSO Cidade de Mangaratiba started production this Tuesday (October 14) in the Iracema Sul area (Lula field in the Santos Basin pre-salt). This fourth quarter will also see the start-up of the FPSO Cidade de Ilhabela, which is being anchored in the northern area of the Sapinhoá field, and platform P-61 in Papa-Terra (Campos Basin post-salt) which is already anchored at its location, and the Tender Assisted Drilling (TAD) support drilling rig is being set up.

Natural gas production Production of natural gas in Brazil in September was also the highest on record, reaching 71.137 million m³/d and exceeding the previous month’s figure (71.022 million m³/d) by 0.2%. Petrobras gas production, including gas production managed for partner companies, reached 80.132 million m³/d.

Average natural gas production abroad rose 3.1% on August’s figure (15.807 million m³/d) to 16.293 million m³/d. This rise is due to the production ramp-up in Lot 57, Kinteroni Field (Peru), driven by higher demand for LNG exports.

Average oil production rose 3.3% from 115,900 bpd a month ago to 119,700 bpd in September, primarily due to higher NGL and condensate production from Lot 57, Kinteroni Field (Peru), as well as increased operational efficiency in Nigeria and Argentina.

Production reported to the ANP

The total production reported to Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency (ANP) was 10,207,003 m³ of oil and 2,524,741,000 m³ of gas in September 2014. This production corresponds to the total production of the concessions operated by Petrobras. It does not include shale, NGL volumes and third party production where Petrobras is not the operator.