Rising player: Brazil rises in Latin America's oil production
Brazil on the rise
Brazil is becoming an important player in Latin America's energy business after years of domination by oil-rich Venezuela and Mexico, where production is slipping despite prices at $100 per barrel.
Cooperation between state-run Petrobras and private partners has helped Brazil become self-sufficient in oil production and make huge oil and gas discoveries.
In contrast, Mexico's oil production is slipping as a result of a ban on private investment that has crippled state oil monopoly Pemex, while Venezuelan state company PDVSA is down after President Hugo Chavez's 2007 nationalisation crusade, Reuters reported.
This trend suggests that business shrewdness is becoming as important as massive crude reserves in ensuring the growth and profitability of national oil companies.
"Petrobras has a long-term strategy that lets it bring in new technology and capital through private investment," said research associate at Miami University Jorge Pinon.
He said: "Pemex and PDVSA are more extensions of the state, which is why they're in their current position."
Brazil's Petrobras made a discovery last year of what could be one of the world's largest oil finds in 20 years of up to 8 billion barrels in the Tupi field with the help of Britain's BG Group and Portugal's GALP .
Petrobras, a former state monopoly in which the government holds a 32 percent controlling stake, has been run like a multinational for nearly 10 years and has worked toward a clear goal of ensuring energy for Brazil's industries.
In 2006, the company made South America's largest country self-sufficient in oil and a net exporter of oil and products.
It now projects domestic crude output to rise 7% per year through 2012 and reach 2.4 million barrels per day thanks to an investment plan of more than $112 billion.
Petrobras is internationally recognised as a world leader in deep-sea oil exploration and production and has operations in Nigeria, Angola and the U.S. part of the Gulf of Mexico.
Pemex has eyed Petrobras with envy for years. It wishes it could follow a similar path to reverse years of underinvestment that have left Pemex unable to compensate for declining yields at the huge but aging Canterell field, according to Pemex and energy ministry officials.
Mexico's government is highly dependent on the substantial taxes it charges Pemex, which is discovering just one new barrel for every two it extracts.
Output is down to about 3 million bpd of crude from a peak of almost 3.4 million bpd in 2004.
While the company hopes to keep output steady, the energy minister has warned Mexico's production could more than halve by 2021 unless industry laws are changed.
The conservative government is proposing reforms to let private alliances in deep-water oil, but the barriers are unlikely to come down soon as half of Mexicans oppose the idea and left-wingers protest the effort in the streets.
While PDVSA hopes to boost output, its official figures show 2007 production fell almost 5% to 3.1 million bpd.
To support Chavez's popularity, PDVSA has spent more on social programs such as subsidized supermarkets and health clinics that support Chavez's popularity rather than on exploration.
Market observers say output is only about 2.5 million bpd.
Industry sources say few oil companies are interested in new Venezuelan projects after Chavez took over four multibillion-dollar heavy oil projects last year, sparking the ouster of ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips.