Petrobras Reports Lower Hydrocarbon Output, Stable Refining Rates for Third Quarter

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Written by Amir Richani for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) registered a lower hydrocarbon output in the third quarter than during the same period last year, though it has taken steps to boost production through new platforms. Refining remains stable, with pre-salt oil taking a leading role.

Petrobras closed the third quarter with an oil, natural gas liquids, and natural gas output of 2.69 million barrels of oil per day equivalent (BOE/d), on par with the second quarter but 6.5% less than during the same quarter last year.

Some 35,000 BOE/d were produced from the company's assets in Bolivia, Argentina and the United States, while the remaining volumes came from its Brazilian fields.

Despite the lower production levels compared to last year, Petrobras expects its output to remain within the targets of 2.8 million BOE/d +-4% set in its strategic plan for 2024-2028.

Pre-salt volumes, the company's flagship projects, set a pace of 1.82 million BOE/d during the last quarter. This was achieved due to peak production at the floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel Sepetiba at the Mero field with three new producing wells; the start-up of one new well at the FPSO Almirante Barroso in the Buzios field; and another one at the FPSO Marica in the Tupi field.

Meanwhile, post-salt hydrocarbon output stood at 275,000 BOE/d during the third quarter, some 10.1% less than the second quarter. This was the result of interventions to comply with operational safety requirements, natural gas volume declines, and losses from scheduled maintenance stoppages.

On the downstream front, Petrobras' refineries operated at 95% of their utilization factor, on par with previous quarters. Yet, pre-salt crude processing reached a new milestone, representing 73% of the refineries' processed feedstock. Pre-salt accounted for 76% of the hydrocarbons processed in August, a monthly record.

Oil products output in the third quarter was 4.2% higher than during the previous quarter, with diesel, gasoline and jet fuel accounting for 68% of the volumes produced in July, August and September.

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