Hot seat: Petrobras exploration and production chief Jose Miranda Formigli
Petrobras sees 1.1m bpd from pre-salt
Brazil oil giant Petrobras expects to be producing 1.126 million barrels per day of oil equivalent from its new pre-salt fields by 2017, Jose Formigli, the head of exploration and production for the fields said.
"In 2017, (pre-salt) will have a significant mark on production with eight complete platforms of 120,000 bpd and three planned pilots of 100,000 bpd," Jose Miranda Formigli told reporters at the Rio Oil & Gas conference.
Petrobras has invested $1 billion drilling 20 wells below a massive salt layer off Brazil's coast since 2005, and has encountered large quantities of high-grade light oil and natural gas. Analysts estimate the pre-salt reserves could contain up to 80 billion barrels of oil, catapulting Brazil into the top 10 oil producers.
Last year, Petrobras produced 1.79 million bpd. It expects an average annual output growth of over 7% through 2012.
Formigli said the expected production from the pre-salt cluster in the Santos basin would be included in the company's business plan for 2009 to 2020, which is due to be released in October.
Formigli added that Petrobras was not concerned about the recent sharp fall in world oil prices since the company's plans for the pre-salt production were based on a price of $35 per barrel, Reuters reported.