Brazil has been tipped by the IEA to be second only to the US in terms of global oil output growth over the next five years. But, since hitting 2.73mn b/d in December 2016, output has consistently underwhelmed. Key deepwater ‘pre-salt’ projects that were to have provided production increments have been hit by a series of delays: offshore gains have no more than kept pace with declines at ageing onshore fields.
This looks to now be changing. After effectively flatlining since mid-2016 (see chart), output finally moved decisively higher in May to hit a new record 2.731mn b/d. Key gains have come from the Buzios field where state firm Petrobras produces from four 150,000 b/d-capacity FPSOs. (CONTINUED - 288 WORDS)
