By Lise Alves, Senior Contributing Reporter
SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – Oil production in Brazil set a record in June, totaling 2.79 million barrels of BOE (barrel of oil equivalent), according to data from the ANP (National Petroleum Agency). The volume is 2.6 percent greater than that registered in May of 2014 and 6.9 percent higher than the volume registered in June of 2013.
Oil production this past June also surpassed the previous production record of 2.721 million BOE set in January 2012. ANP also announced that the country produced 86.6 million cubic meters of natural gas during the month.
The volume is 2.4 percent greater than in May of 2014 and 8.2 percent greater than in June of 2013. As for the pre-salt basins, the total production of oil and natural gas increased by 6.2 percent in comparison to May of 2014.
Nearly ninety percent of all petroleum and natural gas produced in Brazil comes from oil fields operated by state-owned giant, Petrobras. According to the EIA (U.S. Energy Information Administration), the world’s largest oil discoveries in recent years have come from Brazil’s offshore, pre-salt basins.
Close to 92.4 percent of all oil production and a little over 73 percent of all natural gas extracted in Brazil comes from offshore oil fields. The Campos Basin in Rio de Janeiro state, registered the highest volume of petroleum production, while the Santos Basin, in São Paulo state registered the greatest volume of natural gas production.
Still, in May the petroleum sector trade balance in Brazil registered a deficit of R$6.059 billion during the period from January to April of 2014, according to the nation’s Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC). Also in May Petrobras announced plans to release 8,298 employees – or 12.4 percent of its staff – as part of a voluntary redundancy program to save at R$13 billion by 2018.
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