Petrobras discloses that its proved oil, condensate and natural gas reserves according to SEC (US Securities and Exchange Commission) regulation were estimated at 9.590 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe), as of December 31, 2019, as displayed in Table 1.

Changes in proved reserves in billion barrels of oil equivalent during 2019 are shown in Graph 1:

In 2019, the sales operations provided the anticipated monetization of 0.072 billion boe related to the conclusion of the sale of Petrobras’ total interest in Pargo, Carapeba, Vermelho and Maromba fields in Campos Basin and in 34 onshore fields in Potiguar Basin, and of the sale of 50% of Petrobras’ interest in Tartaruga Verde and Espadarte fields, in Campos Basin.

Petrobras succeeded to replace 106% of the produced volume, disregarding the effects of sales in 2019, mainly due to good performance and increased production experience in reservoirs in the pre-salt layer of Santos Basin. In addition, Petrobras incorporated reserves related to the rearrangement of volumes due to the revision of Transfer of Rights Agreement and to the approval of new projects in Santos, Campos and Espírito Santo Basins. The ratio between proved reserves and produced volume is 10.5 years.

ANP/SPE reserves definitions

Petrobras also estimates reserves according to ANP/SPE reserves definitions (Agência Nacional do Petróleo, Gás Natural e Biocombustíveis / Society of Petroleum Engineers). Proved reserves according to those definitions were estimated at 11.235 billion barrels of oil equivalent as of December 31, 2019. The main differences between reserves estimated using ANP/SPE definitions and those estimated using SEC regulation arise from economic assumptions (e.g. prices and costs) used for evaluation, and from the possibility of considering as reserves those quantities forecasted to be produced after concession contract expiration in fields in Brazil according to ANP reserves regulation.

Petrobras historically submits at least 90% of its proved reserves for independent evaluation according to SEC definitions. Currently, D&M (DeGolyer and MacNaughton) conducts the independent evaluation of Petrobras’ reserves.