Petrobras has announced that its total oil and natural gas production in Brazil, in December of 2013, was 2.362 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed), up 0.8% on the 2.342 million boed extracted in November. Oil production averaged 1.964 million barrels per day (bpd), up 0.4% on November’s production of 1.957 million bpd. 
Including the production managed by Petrobras for its partners in Brazil, total volume in December was 2.493 million boed and oil output was 2.043 million bpd.

December’s production increase was mainly influenced by the start-up of new wells on platforms P-26, in the Marlim field, and P-56, in the Marlim Sul field, both in the Campos Basin. These new wells have offset the in output due to the scheduled maintenance shutdown of platform P-53, which began at the end of November and was completed in December, and the shutdown of P-20, in the Marlim field, as of December 27, to repair damage caused by a fire in the platform’s chemical products unit. Up to that point, this unit had been producing 22 thousand barrels per day and the interruption in production during the last five days of 2013 affected the month’s average production by 3,500 bpd. The unit is expected to restart production in the first quarter of 2014.

 Also in December, the sale of Petrobras’ interest in Parque das Conchas was completed. The ANP approved this transaction on December 18, 2013. Consequently, as of December 19 approximately 12 thousand bpd per day were no longer computed in Petrobras’ production in Brazil, affecting the monthly average by 5 thousand bpd.

A new pre-salt daily production record of 371,300 bpd was set on December 24, 2013. This record was achieved with only 21 production wells. The Santos Basin pre-salt contributed with 184,700 bpd, produced by eight wells, an average of 23,100 bpd per well. Two of these eight wells, which are connected to early production systems, are subject to restricted output due to gas burning limits. Thirteen wells in the Campos Basin pre-salt produced 186,600 bpd, an average of 14,300 bpd per well.

In addition to the daily production record, in December Petrobras set a new pre-salt monthly production record of 344,900 bpd. It is worth noting that this daily record set on December 24 of last year was once again surpassed on January 14, 2014, when 390 thousand bpd were produced by the pre-salt cluster.  On December 31, the third Module of Roncador field started up (platform P-55). Over the course of the year, new wells will be interconnected to this platform significantly contributing to production increases in 2014. Platform P-58, in the final phase of installation at the complex known as Parque das Baleias 85 km off the Espírito Santo coast, is expected to come on-stream in the first quarter of 2014 and will boost the Campos Basin’s pre-salt production. 

In addition to P-58, two other platforms are expected to come on-stream in the first half of 2014 in the Campos Basin post-salt: P-62 in the fourth module of Roncador field, and P-61 in Papa-Terra field. Both platforms are already in their permanent location and are being deployed.

 Natural gas production

The natural gas volume produced by Petrobras in Brazil in December was 63.308 million cubic meters per day (m³/d), 3% higher than the 61.296 million m³/d produced a month earlier. Including the share managed by Petrobras for its partners, volume reached 71 million m³/d, a 3.2% rise on November’s figure of 68.794 million m³/d. The end of the scheduled maintenance shutdown on the Mexilhão platform (Santos Basin) boosted gas production. 

In December, total oil and natural gas production was 188,046 boed, a 3.1% on last month’s figure of 194,078 boed. This was due to a production shutdown for installing power umbilicals and subsea pumps in the Cascade and Chinook fields (United States). Of this total, natural gas production was 14,861 thousand m³/d, down 0.6% from the 14,944 thousand m³/d produced in November, primarily as a result of a production shutdown in the Austral Basin fields (Santa Cruz I, Santa Cruz I Oeste and Santa Cruz II) in Argentina, due to industrial action.

In December, oil production from Petrobras’ fields abroad was 100,575 bpd, down 5.2% from November’s figure of 106,122 bpd. This decrease was also caused by a production shutdown for installing power umbilicals and subsea pumps in the Cascade and Chinook fields (United States). The total production for December 2013 reported to the ANP was 9,555,278 m³ of oil and 2.323678 billion m³ of gas. This figure represents total production of the concessions where Petrobras is the operator. It does not include Shale, LNG and partners’ output where Petrobras is not the operator.

Petrobras’ oil and natural gas production in Brazil in 2013 averaged 2,321 million boed, down 1.5% from last year’s average production. Oil production exclusively from domestic fields last year averaged 1.931 million bpd, down 2.5% from 2012 production (1,980 thousand bpd). Including the share managed by Petrobras for its partners, 2013 volume reached 1.992 million bpd. 

The in the 2013 production was mainly due to the delay in the start-up of Papa-Terra field (Campos Basin) where well interconnections to platform P-63 had to be reviewed due to the presence of corals on the seabed; delay in the arrival in Brazil and difficulties in installing BSRs (Riser Support Buoy Systems), to connect new wells in Sapinhoá and Lula NE fields (Santos Basin); and a delay in the start-up of platforms P-55 (Roncador field) and P-58 (Parque das Baleias) in the Campos Basin. With the interconnection of new wells on these production units, as well as on platforms P-62 in the 4th Module of the Roncador field and P-61, in Papa-Terra, both expected to begin production in the first half of 2014, Petrobras will have established the necessary conditions to boost production in 2014. 

On the other hand, it is important to mention that the natural decline of production from fields in operation in 2013 remained within Petrobras’ forecast and is compatible with oil industry standards. Also, there was an improvement in the operational efficiency at the Rio de Janeiro and Campos Basin Operational Units (UO-Rio and UO-BC), which showed average annual indices of 92.4% and 75.4%, respectively, as a result of actions developed under the Operational Efficiency Improvement Program (PROEF). 

In terms of non-liquefied natural gas alone, Petrobras’ domestic production in 2013 rose by 3.8% compared to 2012, averaging 61.922 million m³/d. Added to the share managed by Petrobras for its partners, last year’s volume averaged 68.798 million m³/d. Petrobras’ total oil and gas production (Brazil and abroad) in 2013 was 2.54 million boed, down 2.2% on 2012. Of this total, 219,552 boed were produced from the company’s fields abroad and 2.321 million boed in Brazil. 

The total production in 2013 reported to the ANP was 109,304,951 m³ of oil and 26.448092 billion m³ of gas. This production corresponds to the total production of the concessions where Petrobras is the operator. It does not include Shale, LNG and partners’ production where Petrobras is not the operator.