Petrobras $PETR3 (-1.16%)
$PETR4 (-0.55%) has met its oil and gas production targets for 2024, but that hasn't stopped the company from recording annual and quarterly production declines. According to the state-owned oil giant's production and sales report published on Monday, daily production of oil, natural gas liquids (NGLs) and natural gas averaged 2.66 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOE/d) last year, a decrease of 3.1% compared to 2023.
Domestic production of oil and NGLs amounted to 2.15 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2024, a decrease of 3.5% compared to the previous year. Natural gas production in Brazil amounted to 512,000 BOE/d, a decrease of 0.8% compared to 2023.
In the fourth quarter, total oil and gas production fell by 10.5% year-on-year to 2.59 million BOE/d. Oil and NGL production fell by 11.5% to 2.09 million bpd, while natural gas production fell by 6.1% to 507,000 BOE/d.
Petrobras set a new annual production record in the Brazilian pre-salt region: Company-operated production reached 2.2 million BOE/d and total operated production reached 3.2 million BOE/d. The pre-salt region accounted for 81% of the company's total production in 2024.
Despite these milestones, oil and NGL production in the pre-salt region fell by 9.1% year-on-year to 1.76 million bpd in the fourth quarter. For the year as a whole, however, pre-salt production rose slightly by 0.4% to 1.813 million bpd.
According to Petrobras, the decline in the fourth quarter was due to a higher number of maintenance shutdowns in the Búzios field. Production levels for the year as a whole were supported by the ramp-ups on the Sepetiba, Almirante Barroso, Anita Garibaldi, Marechal Duque de Caxias and Maria Quitéria platforms.
In the Brazilian post-salt region, oil and NGL production fell by 24% to 295,000 bpd in the fourth quarter compared to the same period in 2023. For the year as a whole, post-salt production fell by 20.2% to 305,000 bpd.
Petrobras attributed the decline to production restrictions on platforms that were put back into operation in the fourth quarter and the natural decline in mature fields. However, the increase in production on the Anna Nery platform and the commissioning of four new wells in the Campos Basin helped to offset some of the losses.
In terms of sales of refined products, Petrobras sold an average of 1.72 million bpd on the domestic market in 2024, which corresponds to a year-on-year decline of 1.4 %. In the fourth quarter, however, sales rose by 1.4% year-on-year to 1.758 million bpd.
Overall capacity utilization at the company's refineries reached 95% in the fourth quarter, one percentage point higher than in the same period in 2023. For the year as a whole, refinery capacity utilization averaged 93%, also one percentage point higher than in 2023.