National oil production rose 7.78% in 2019, surpassing for the first time the mark of 1 billion barrels in the year, ANP (National Agency of Petroleum, Gas, and Biofuels informed on Wednesday (22). This is the result of the growth in pre-salt production.
According to the ANP, Brazil produced 1.018 billion barrels in the year, an average of 2.79 million barrels per day. In 2018, production totaled 944 million barrels or 2.58 million barrels per day. The production of natural gas grew 9.46%, from 40.8 to 44.7 billion cubic meters in the year.
In December, average production was also a record, totaling 3.1 million barrels of oil per day, 0.52% more than the previous record, recorded in November. The volume extracted in the last month of the year is 15.44% higher than that recorded in December 2018.
According to the ANP, the pre-salt wells were responsible for 66.82% of the national oil and gas production in December 2019, equivalent to 2.1 million barrels of oil and 85.4 million cubic meters of natural gas per day.
In the year, Petrobras started operations on four pre-salt platforms - the last one, in November, was the P-68, in the Sururu and Berbigão fields, in the Santos Basin. Also, it expanded the activity of units installed during the previous year.
In December, according to ANP data, Petrobras had 74.9% of the national oil and gas production. The second-largest producer, the Anglo-Dutch Shell, had 12.2%.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon