MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Petrobras processing more oil in domestic refineries, as export volumes drop 22%

Petrobras exported, in the second quarter of this year, 411.000 bpd of oil, which represented a decrease of 22.6% in comparison with the same period last year.

Brazil's giant oil and gas corporation Petrobras this week presented its second-quarter report, which showed a drop in oil exports in a scenario of increased processing at domestic refineries.

The greater use of refineries, happened amid three drops in the price charged by the company for gasoline and a significant increase in sales of the derivative in the country.

Petrobras exported, in the second quarter of this year, 411 thousand barrels per day of oil, which represented a decrease of 22.6% in comparison with the same period last year.

The total utilization factor of the state-owned refineries in the second quarter was 93%, up four percentage points compared to the same period in 2022. The document also shows that the oil company sold 1.7 million barrels per day of derivatives, an advance of 0.3% compared to the same period in 2022.

Gasoline sales totaled, between April and June, 434 thousand barrels per day, an increase of 15.7% compared to the same period last year. This occurred, according to the state-owned company, due to the share gain of gasoline over hydrated ethanol in the supply of flex-fuel vehicles, as well as the increase in the Otto cycle market.

In the second quarter, the growth in gasoline sales took place in the wake of three reductions in the price of the derivative carried out by the state-owned company, which meant a total retreat of 20.75% of the product in the refineries.

In addition, gasoline sales in the second quarter grew by 4.8% compared to the first quarter. They were the highest registered for the same period in the last six years, even with the divestment of some refineries.

Petrobras also informed that the production of oil, natural gas and natural gas liquid (NGL) in the second quarter totaled 2.64 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOE per day, which corresponds to a slight drop of 0. 6% compared to the same period in 2022.

Oil and NGL production stood at 2.1 million barrels/day between April and June, down 0.6% compared to the same period in 2022, while natural gas production was 501 thousand BOE/day, a decline of 0.2% compared to the second quarter of last year.

According to the company, oil production in the pre-salt layer was 1.708 million barrels/day, 0.4% higher than in the first quarter, mainly due to the ramp-up phase of production on the P-71 platform, in the Itaipu field, in the Santos Basin, and the start of production of the platform vessel (FPSO) Almirante Barroso, in the Búzios field, also in the Santos Basin. Compared to the same quarter of 2022, pre-salt production grew by 6.2%.

Post-salt production was 346 thousand barrels per day, 9.7% lower than in the first quarter, mainly due to the greater volume of losses with stoppages and maintenance, the sale of the Albacora Leste field and the natural decline in production, effects partially offset by the start-up of production at the FPSO Anna Nery and the entry of five new project wells in the Campos Basin. In the annual comparison, the drop was 20.3%.