
By Matthew Smith for Oilprice.com – Before the outbreak of COVID-19 and the oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia, an oil boom of monumental proportions was underway in Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy. Economists and industry analysts as far back as 2018 were speculating that it would be the largest in Latin America’s history. There were even signs that Brazil’s burgeoning oil production could challenge OPEC’s wanning supremacy.

On Friday, May 1, two workers on the PXA-1 offshore platform owned by Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras checked into the facility's infirmary complaining of headaches and fever-like symptoms. Another Petrobras employee fell visibly ill the following day, according to Brazilian media.

Brazil's oil and gas giant Petrobras during the month of Maye exported 1.11 million tons of fuel oil, surpassing the previous record set in February 2020 by 10%. The amount of fuel oil exported was 231% above the volume exported in May last year.

Norway's Equinor ASA and Anglo-French firm Perenco are among at least five oil producers that have registered coronavirus cases among employees or contractors at facilities off the coast of Brazil, according to industry and regulatory sources.

Petrobras set a new oil exports record of 1 million BPD in April, as domestic demand plunged, the Brazilian state-controlled oil firm said on Monday, days after a large group of other oil producers, OPEC+, began a 9.7-million-BPD collective cut aimed at rebalancing the market.

Workers at Brazil’s state-owned oil giant Petrobras have ended a strike of nearly three weeks that left the firm scrambling to avoid a drop in production, labor unions said last Friday. Around 21,000 workers — a third of the total workforce — joined the mass walk-out at the start of the month.

Brazil’s state-run oil firm Petrobras reported last week a record net profit for 2019, thanks to asset sales under its strategy to divest non-core operations and focus on the deepwater pre-salt region offshore Brazil.

Brazilian oil workers and oil giant Petrobras were locked in a power struggle over the company’s privatization plans, with the union saying thousands of employees are on an indefinite strike.

Brazil's development bank BNDES sold US$5.2 billion in common shares it owned in state-controlled oil company Petrobras. The company priced the offering at 30 Reais per common share, a discount of 1.57% relative to Wednesday's closing price. BNDES sold 22 billion reais in shares.

Brazilian state-run oil firm Petrobras said it has asked to withdraw its participation in a program certifying good governance and limited political interference in state companies set up by the Sao Paulo stock exchange.