Private firms seen raising oil output by 75% in Brazil

Private oil companies in Brazil will raise average annual output by 75% through 2030 from 1.221Mb/d to 2.123Mb/d, according to Wood Mackenzie.

International oil companies such as Shell, Equinor, TotalEnergies, Repsol Sinopec and Petrogal are expected to be among the top producers, as they are partners of federal oil firm Petrobras in the pre-salt and fields under development.

Among these assets are Tupi, Sapinhoá, Atapu, Sépia and Mero, located in the prolific Santos basin, off the southeast coast.  

Meanwhile, Shell operates the Gato do Mato project, for which a final investment decision remains pending, and TotalEnergies, the Lapa field, which is expected to increase output in the coming years. 

And Equinor leads the consortiums that develop the Bacalhau and Pão de Açúcar undertakings, which are planned to come online before the end of this decade. 

"In relation to national private firms, there should be a consolidation in both offshore and onshore fields," Wood Mackenzie upstream research director Marcelo de Assis told BNamericas.

In this case, the highlights include 3R Petroleum, which has purchased several Petrobras assets, such as Papa Terra and Peroá, in addition to the Pescada and Arabaiana, Potiguar and Macau clusters; Enauta, which operates the Atlanta field; Trident Energy (Pampo and Enchova); Perenco (Pargo) and PRIO (Frade and Wahoo). 

The latter recently started production from a new well (ODP5) in Frade, with stabilized initial output of around 8,000b/d of oil, contributing to surpassing the company’s overall 100,000b/d mark.

According to De Assis, Petrobras will produce about 2.15Mb/d this year, reaching 3.46Mb/d in 2030. 

The main drivers of the company’s output growth will be the Búzios and Mero fields, in the pre-salt of the Santos basin. 

Oil and gas production by company in Brazil. Source: ANP