During a difficult 2020, Brazil’s hydrocarbon sector demonstrated its resilience in the face of a price crash and the COVID-19 pandemic. Even those events along with heightened geopolitical risks and domestic instability did little to curb Brazil’s oil boom. For 2020, Brazil’s overall hydrocarbon output (Portuguese) rose 5.5% year over year to a record 3.7 million barrels of oil equivalent daily. This, according to Brazil’s hydrocarbon regulator, the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANH – Portuguese initials) was almost 53% higher than in 2010. Crude oil production for 2020 averaged 2.9 million barrels per day or 43% higher than the 2 million barrels per day pumped on average during 2010. That notable increase was driven by the ongoing expansion of Brazil’s prolific offshore pre-salt crude oil production, which for 2020 grew by an impressive 18% year over year to just under 2.6 million barrels daily. The […]