Petrobras: Oil and natural gas production up 2.4% in Q2

Petrobras’ oil and natural gas output in the second quarter of 2024 grew by 2.4 percent compared to the same period in 2023. The average volume recorded was 2.7 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.

The highlights leading to the expansion, the oil giant reported, were the ramp-up of production from five platforms and 12 wells—eight in the Campos basin and four in the Santos basin.

Compared to the first quarter of 2024, average production fell by 2.8 percent. Petrobras named the volume of losses from maintenance stoppages and the natural decline of mature fields as the main drivers.

Sales of oil derivatives on the domestic market increased by 3.2 percent in the quarter, driven by diesel and liquefied petroleum gas sales. Sales of S-10 diesel accounted for 64 percent of the company’s total diesel sales, a new quarterly record.

The production and sales report now includes data on atmospheric emissions. In the first half of 2024, greenhouse gas emissions from Petrobras’ oil and gas activities amounted to 21.4 million tons. In the same time span in 2023, they totaled 20.7 million tons.

New platforms

Among the quarter’s milestones, Petrobras mentioned the arrival of the floating production storage and offloading unit (FPSO) Marechal Duque de Caxias in Brazil and the completion of the platform’s anchoring in the Mero field, in the pre-salt Santos basin. This will be the field’s third definitive production system. Operations are scheduled to begin later this year.

FPSO Maria Quitéria has had its start of production brought forward to the last quarter of 2024. The platform left the shipyard in China in May and is sailing to Brazil. The unit will operate in the Jubarte field, in the pre-salt region of the Campos basin, off the coast of Espírito Santo state, and features decarbonization technology, including a combined cycle for power generation and a flare gas recovery unit.