Brazil’s state-run oil major Petrobras reported on Wednesday that there has been an increase of 1.4 percent in its oil and gas production, for the month of March when compared to the same month in the previous year.
According to Petrobras’ its average domestic oil and gas production settled at 2,114,089 barrels of oil equivalent on a day in March, less 0.7 percent over February.
The company reported that this change was due to the planned maintenance shutdowns at two locations in the south eastern Campos Basin.
Petrobras further suggested that it anticipated an increase of 50,000 barrels in its oil production for the year 2008. This increase in production can be attributed to five new drilling platforms that are scheduled for operation. Amongst these platforms four are located in Campos Basin and one in Espirito Santo Sea. Other sources that can lead to increased production are five rigs that came online in 2007. These rigs will prove helpful when they reach full capacity.
Petrobras further reported that the domestic production of natural gas has reached 49,868,000 cubic meters daily. The production has increased by 14.2 percent when compared to March, in the previous year. However, this output is 1.9 percent lower from February this year.
According to the company its total oil and natural gas production in March reached 2,339,006 barrels of oil equivalent per day. There production increased by 1 percent when compared to the same month, previous year.
Petrobras’ oil and natural gas production outside of Brazil amounted to 224,917 boe per day, last month. The production increased by 1 percent from previous month.