MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Petrobras announces 92 billion USD investment plan

Brazil's government-managed oil and gas corporation Petrobras announced Wednesday its domestic Exploration and Production plan for 2009/2013 which involves 92 billion US dollars.

"This is 26.9 billion above the previous plan (2008/2012) 65.1 billion. Our target is to boost domestic oil production to 2,680,000 barrels per day (bpd) by 2013", said Petrobras' Exploration & Production Director, Guilherme Estrella. Of the 92 billion, some 29 billion will be allocated to the Santos and Campos basin pre-salt projects alone, including the amounts set aside for the Parque das Baleias, off the coast of Espírito Santo. The projection is that in 2013, production in the pre-salt fields will reach 219,000 bpd, a volume that is expected to grow to 1,800,000 bpd in 2020, including the production both of Petrobras and of its partners. "This would practically double the company's current daily production in Brazil" pointed out Estrella. Petrobras has also plans to intensify exploratory activity in other areas. By 2013 the company is expected to have invested 13.8 billion in the exploration of 278 blocks in the Equatorial Margin, Ceará and Potiguar, Solimões, Sergipe and Alagoas, Bahia Sul, São Francisco, Espírito Santo, Campos, Santos, and Pelotas basins. The Company expects to reach 2013 with a total production of some 3.6 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed), including the contribution made by fields abroad. The volume is expected to rise to 5.1 million boe in 2020. The target is to reach a local content index of 53% in production unit construction. The Business Plan predicts that the first platforms that will make pre-salt production feasible will go on stream by 2010, such as the Tupi pilot system, in the Santos Basin – with capacity to produce 100,000 bpd – and the unit destined to produce the Parque das Baleias – which includes the Cachalote, Baleia Franca and Baleia Anã fields, off the coast of Espírito Santo. The second Santos basin pre-salt production system is scheduled to go on stream in the Guará accumulation in 2013. In addition to production in the pre-salt, for 2011 the Plan foresees operations will be kicked-off at platforms P-57, in the Jubarte field, in the Espírito Santo Basin, and P-56, in the Marlim Sul field, in the Campos Basin. The forecast is that the unit destined for the Baleia Azul field, in Espírito Santo, will go online the following year.