Brazil hits record September oil and gas production, as well in the pre-salt

ANP released the Monthly Oil and Natural Gas Production Bulletin for September 2023, which provides consolidated data on national production. This month, there was a record in total production (oil + natural gas), as well as in oil and natural gas considered separately and also in pre-salt production.

A total of 4.666 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (MMboe/d) were produced. It was the highest total production ever recorded, surpassing the record set in July 2023, with 4.482 million MMboe/d.

Regarding oil, there were 3.672 million barrels per day (MMbbl/d), an increase of 6.1% compared to the previous month and 16.7% compared to September 2022. The highest production previously recorded was July 2023: 3,513 MMbbl/d.

Natural gas production in September was 157.99 million cubic meters per day (MMm³/d), an increase of 6.9% compared to the previous month and 10.4% compared to September 2022. Also it was the largest volume to date, surpassing that of July 2023: 154.076 million cubic meters per day (MMm³/d).

Pre-salt
Total production (oil + natural gas) in the pre-salt, in September, was 3.594 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) and corresponded to 77% of Brazilian production. It was the highest recorded, surpassing that of July 2023, when 3.359 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) were extracted. There was an increase of 9.5% compared to the previous month and 19.8% compared to the same month in 2022. 2.830 million barrels per day (bbl/d) of oil were produced and 121.61 million cubic meters per day (m³/d) of natural gas through 144 wells.

Use of natural gas
In September, natural gas utilization was 97.9%. 55.18 million m³/d were made available to the market and the burning was 3.35 million m³/d. There was a drop in burning of 11% compared to the previous month and an increase of 6.1% compared to September 2022.

Origin of production
In July, offshore fields produced 97.6% of oil and 87.2% of natural gas. The fields operated by Petrobras, alone or in consortium with other companies, were responsible for 89.02% of the total produced. Production originated from 6,284 wells, 520 of which were offshore and 5,764 onshore.

Fields and facilities
In September, the Tupi field, in the Santos Basin pre-salt, was the largest producer of oil and gas, recording 902.40 thousand bbl/d of oil and 44.32 million m³/d of natural gas . The installation with the highest production of oil and natural gas was the FPSO Guanabara in the shared Mero deposit, with 179,340 thousand bbl/d of oil and 11.57 million m³/d of gas.