Category: Brazil

Drought conditions in Brazil’s Southeast-Central West region are putting pressure on state-owned oil and gas company Petrobras to seek out prompt and near-term LNG cargoes to supplement the country’s power supply, sources said Monday. Petrobras was recently heard in the market lifting an FOB cargo from Qatar for an undisclosed price. The 157,000 cubic meter Wilpride, currently under Petrobras’ control, loaded the cargo Friday from the port of Ras Laffan, Qatar. The vessel is currently in the Gulf of Oman and is expected to arrive at the Bay of All Saints terminal in Salvador, Bahia, by late August. Petrobras has also been heard in the market looking for cargoes for FOB lifting or delivery in September, October and possibly November, ahead of the rainy season which runs from December through April. The recent push to shore up the country’s power supply comes as reservoir levels in Brazil’s Southeast-Central West […]

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Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PETR4) , the biggest oil producer in deep waters, posted an unexpected profit decline in the second quarter after its fuel imports surged and crude exports fell. Net income fell 20 percent to 4.96 billion reais ($2.2 billion), or 0.38 reais a share, from 6.2 billion reais, or 48 centavos, a year earlier, the Rio de Janeiro-based company said yesterday in a statement. That trailed the 55-centavo average of 12 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg, making this the third time in four quarters that Petrobras missed forecasts. Rising Brazilian demand for gasoline and diesel that Petrobras sells at a discount relative to international prices is leading the state-run producer to export less crude and increase refinery output. It cut sales to overseas markets by 14 percent from a year earlier, while the refining boost wasn’t enough to prevent a 56 percent surge in fuel imports. The […]

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Petrobras’ oil production from frontier fields offshore is soaring. Pictured, a platform prepares for its first day working a ‘pre-salt’ field in 2010. Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO—When Brazil’s state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA disclosed its biggest-ever oil find, in 2007, then-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva quipped that the discovery proved that God is Brazilian. New production figures are making believers out of many in the industry. Output from the "pre-salt" fields has passed 500,000 barrels of oil a day, nearly triple that of 2012, and now accounts for nearly a quarter of the company’s total production of two million barrels a day. It is a quick ramp-up for Petrobras, and is taking place in one of the most challenging oil patches in the world. The deposits lie nearly 200 miles off Brazil’s southeastern coast, buried deep below the sea floor under a thick layer of salt, […]

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Petrobras’ oil production from frontier fields offshore is soaring. Pictured, a platform prepares for its first day working a ‘pre-salt’ field in 2010. Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO—When Brazil’s state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA disclosed its biggest-ever oil find, in 2007, then-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva quipped that the discovery proved that God is Brazilian. New production figures are making believers out of many in the industry. Output from the "pre-salt" fields has passed 500,000 barrels of oil a day, nearly triple that of 2012, and now accounts for nearly a quarter of the company’s total production of two million barrels a day. It is a quick ramp-up for Petrobras, and is taking place in one of the most challenging oil patches in the world. The deposits lie nearly 200 miles off Brazil’s southeastern coast, buried deep below the sea floor under a thick layer of salt, […]

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Brazilian energy company Petrobras said its oil production for May was up 2.2 percent to 1.98 million barrels per day when compared with the previous month. Petrobras said it credited May’s production increase to the launch of operations at four new platforms in the offshore Campos Basin. In the Campos and Santos basins alone, Petrobras said oil production increased 8.8 percent from May to 447,000 bpd, a monthly record. Brazil ranks second behind Venezuela in proven oil reserves in South America. Offshore production is complicated because much of the oil reserves lie beneath a thick layer of salt. Petrobras , formally known as Petroleo Brasileiro, has struggled with production levels in the past, but attributed the declines to scheduled maintenance at its offshore fields. The company in a statement Tuesday said new production systems are expected to enter into service this year. A four-year business management plan envisions a […]

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The oil unit of Danish conglomerate A.P. Møller-Maersk A/S will book a $1.7 billion impairment on its Brazilian assets as it changes strategy in the region, it said Tuesday. However, the company’s full-year guidance remains unchanged with underlying profit of about $4 billion and a group-wide result significantly above last year. Maersk Oil said it would no longer pursue growth for its business in Brazil and as a result has sold its ownership share in the Polvo field to the operator. The company bought stakes in three fields in Brazil for $2.4 billion in July 2011, but decided to take an impairment on them following appraisal drillings that came out at the lower end of expectations as well as increased development costs and a subdued oil price. It is thought that the operating partners in the remaining two fields will be able to present commercially viable development plans, the […]

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Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) has surpassed 470,000 b/d in the presalt layer of the Santos and Campos basins offshore Brazil, a new daily production record according to the company. The milestone was reached with production from 24 wells, including 7-LL-22D-RJS, which was brought on stream on May 9 and is now contributing 31,000 b/d. Petrobras attributes a portion of its success in the Santos and Campos presalt to the use of a buoyancy supported riser (BSR) that connects 7-LL-22D-RJS to the Cidade de Paraty floating production, storage, and offloading vessel in Lula field. This ascending production pipeline is suspended from a submerged buoy and has led to above-average production from the new well and two other wells that attach to the Cidade de Sao Paulo FPSO via BSRs in Sapinhoa field, the company said. Petrobras expects to connect several new wells to both FPSOs with BSRs by this year’s […]

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Miguel Abitbol spent almost $4,000 on television equipment to show World Cup soccer matches at his bar and restaurant in Rio de Janeiro . He’s praying there will be enough electricity to power it. Abitbol’s 48-inch (122-centimeter) set is one of 16 million expected to be sold in Brazil this year as it hosts the world’s most-watched sporting event. The kick off in June is looming as the nation contends with a drought that reduced water supply needed for hydroelectric power to near-critical levels. A blackout in February cut electricity to 6 million people. Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PETR3) , the state-owned energy company, is buying record amounts of liquefied natural gas in the spot market to run gas-fired power plants at full capacity and preserve water reserves. Increased competition for the fuel is narrowing the discount of Latin American prices to those in Asia , the costliest, to the […]

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