Brazil’s oil production to reach record high in 2014

Oil and gas analysts Rystad Energy have predicted that 2014 will be a changing year for Brazil’s oil production, forecasting that it will reach a record-high of 2.2 million bpd. This will make Brazil the top oil producing nation in Latin America, surpassing Mexico.

Pre-salt fields

The main contributors to this production growth are pre-salt fields such as Sapinhoa and Peregrino, both of which will have a production ramp-up in 2014. The Lula field will also contribute with a production increase this year given the two FPSOs already in place and several under construction for this field. The Lula field is the largest oil discovery made in Brazil during the last decade (2006), with estimated 5.7 billion bbl of oil resources, closely followed by the Libra field discovered in 2011.

Forecast to 2020

The country’s production is expected to continue ramping up in the upcoming years and beyond 2020 with other major pre-salt discoveries coming online e.g. Buzios, Iara and Jupiter. The companies participating in such discoveries will dominate Brazil’s production and are considered the top explorers in the country. The top explorer is Petrobras with the majority of the resources discovered in Brazil, followed by BG.

Even though the 2014 oil production in Brazil is estimated to be ~50% heavy oil, this share is expected to decrease to up to ~25% in 2020 with the light oil production of the Lula field displacing the heavy oil from other currently producing fields.

Adapted from press release by Cecilia Rehn

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/exploration/13082014/oil-and-gas-analysts-rystad-energy-predict-brazil-will-be-top-oil-producing-nation-in-latin-america/