Brazil's oil production under sharing regime sets record in January

In January of this year, oil extraction in Brazil under the production-sharing regime reached a new record, averaging 845,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd). This volume represents almost double the amount recorded in January 2022 and an 11 percent increase compared to December 2021.

According to Pré-Sal Petróleo (PPSA), the manager of the contracts, four out of the seven contracts currently in production—Búzios, Sépia, Mero e Atapu—had a fundamental role in achieving this result.

PPSA was created in 2013 to manage production-sharing contracts and represent the Federal Government in production individualization agreements and the commercialization of oil and natural gas.

Since the beginning of the historical series in 2017, the total accumulated production under production-sharing has reached 369.30 million barrels of oil. Under this type of contract, the accumulated portion of oil that must be passed on to the Federal Government corresponds to 22.76 million barrels.

Natural gas

Regarding natural gas production for commercial use, in January it stood at 2.28 million cubic meters (m³) per day, a 17 percent increase compared to the previous month due to the improved performance of the Búzios Field which was responsible for the production of 2.12 million m³/day, followed by Entorno de Sapinhoá with 140,000 m³/day, and Southwest Tartaruga Verde with 24,000 m³/day. The Federal Government's share in natural gas production corresponded to 54,000 m³/day.

Since 2017, the accumulated volume of natural gas adds up to 1 billion m³. According to PPSA, the surplus to which the Federal Government is entitled stands at 151.30 million m³.