Petrobras scales down

The Brazilian producer revises down its 2021 crude production forecast but still has ambitious long-term pre-salt growth plan

Brazilian state-controlled oil firm Petrobras has been fortunate compared with many of its Latin American peers. The rapid return of Chinese crude demand in the second quarter of last year helped offset much of the financial pain that the Covid-19 pandemic inflicted throughout the global oil sector in 2020. But Petrobras’ upstream segment has not been entirely spared financial gloom. Beyond hefty impairment charges on assets and depressed prices, the Brazilian company has been forced to downgrade both its crude production forecast and capex for 2021. As part of its new five-year strategy plan, Petrobras revised its projected output to 2.72mn bl/d oe in 2021, shaving 100,000bl/d oe off its pr