Six new platforms went online in 2007 and, at peak production, they will add 590,000 barrels to the installed capacity (maximum lifting capacity the units were designed for) in Brazilian fields. The previous record had been set on 23 October 2006, at 1,912,000 barrels.

Platform P-54, which kicked production off on 11 December in the Roncador field, in the Campos Basin (RJ), was the latest of the six units to go online this year. At top production, foreseen for the second half of 2008, it will add 180,000 barrels per day (bpd) to domestic production.

Last November, Petrobras started operating two other large production units: P-52, also in the Roncador field and with the same total production capacity as the P-54; and FPSO Cidade de Vitória, installed in November in the Golfinho field, Espírito Santo Basin, capable of lifting 100,000 bpd.

In addition to these three units, the FPSO Cidade do Rio de Janeiro went online in January, capable of lifting 100,000 bpd in the Espadarte field, in the Campos Basin; the Manati platform, in the field of the same name, in Bahia, capable of producing up to 6,000,000 cubic meters of gas per day; and, in October, the Piranema platform, with capacity to lift 30,000 bpd of light oil, off the Sergipe coast.

Although more than 80% of the oil Petrobras produces in Brazil comes from offshore fields, onshore production has an important role too. The average onshore field production has hovered at slightly more than 230,000 barrels per day, a volume that has been being maintained in the past few years thanks to the new technologies the company has been developing to extend the useful lives of mature fields. Petrobras is projecting onshore production growth in the upcoming years.

Petrobras will deploy three more oil platforms and one gas platform in 2008: the P-51, in the Marlim Sul field, capable of lifting 180,000 bpd; the P-53, in Marlim Leste, also designed to lift 180,000 bpd, and FPSO Cidade de Niterói, in the Marlim Leste field (Campos Basin), at 100,000 bpd. And, finally, there is also the FPSO Cidade de São Mateus, which will lift gas from the Camarupim field (Espírito Santo Basin) and was designed to produce 10,000,000 m³ per day. P-51 is the first platform built entirely in Brazil.

The daily production record, at upwards of 2 million barrels of oil per day, is an absolutely extraordinary feat. This mark puts Petrobras among the world’s biggest companies. We have now surpassed the self-sufficiency level that is fundamental to Brazil.

—Guilherme Estrella, Exploration & Production director

In November, Petrobras announced the discovery of a new offshore oil province, ranging through the Espírito Santo, Campos, and Santos Basins, in ultra-deep horizons, and in pre-salt rocks. Petrobras analyzed and tested the ultra-deep Tupi area in the region, and said that Tupi alone, which represents only a small part of the new region, has a recoverable volume of between 5 to 8 billion barrels of oil and natural gas. (Earlier post.)