Petrobras ramps up production

Expanding output from the pre-salt province starts to bear fruit for the Brazilian company

Petrobras, the Brazilian state-owned oil company, recorded strong production performance across the third quarter, as record figures in the pre-salt region helped boost the firm’s upstream portfolio. Total hydrocarbon output for the quarter reached 2.88mn bl oe/d, a 9.3pc increase over the second quarter, and a 14.6pc rise year-on-year. In August, Petrobras achieved daily and monthly company records of 3.1mn bl/d oe and 3mn bl/d oe respectively. The growth was dominated by the pre-salt. Across the third quarter, Petrobras extracted 1.37mn bl/d oe from the province, a 17pc rise over the second quarter and up by over 40pc year-on-year. The region now produces over 60pc of all Brazilian oil.  T