Brazil's oil production sharing output surges to record high in May: PPSA

Brazil's production sharing regime registered a fresh record high for crude oil output in May, as new barrels from the Atapu, Mero and Sepia fields were booked for the first time, government subsalt management company Pre-Sal Petroleo SA, or PPSA, said July 14.

The Atapu, Buzios, Entorno de Sapinhoa, Mero, Sepia and Sudoeste de Tartaruga Verde fields pumped a record 672,000 b/d in May, more than 18 times the 37,000 b/d registered in May 2021, PPSA said in its latest production report. May's production also topped the previous record of 486,000 b/d set in April.

The jump in output came after Brazil signed co-participation and production sharing agreements with state-led oil company Petrobras and its partners developing the Atapu and Sepia fields. The contracts went into effect May 1. In addition, Petrobras and its partners developing the Mero Field in the Libra production sharing area started first commercial production from Mero on April 30.

The new barrels from the three fields also pushed the Brazilian government's share of output to a fresh record high in May, rising to 26,000 b/d compared with 10,100 b/d in May 2021, PPSA said. May's slice of production sharing output also topped the previous record for government take of 18,700 b/d set in April.

Atapu pumped 76,000 b/d in May, PPSA said. Brazil will receive about 31.68% of profit oil from Atapu, which represented about 1,400 b/d in May. Sepia, meanwhile, produced 97,000 b/d in May, PPSA said. Brazil gets 37.3% of profit oil from Sepia, which was about 2,000 b/d during the month.

Mero, where Petrobras and its partners have been conducting long-term well tests since 2017, also registered a jump in output with the start of commercial production April 30, the PPSA data showed. The recently installed FPSO Guanabara, which has installed capacity to produce about 180,000 b/d and process up to 12 million cu m/d, is expected to reach full capacity by end-2022.

Mero produced 69,000 b/d in May, more than three times the 21,000 b/d produced in May 2021, according to PPSA. May's output also advanced 56.8% from the 44,000 b/d produced in April. The government received about 10,600 b/d from Mero for its 41.65% share of profit oil.

Buzios retreat

Buzios continued to lead subsalt fields in terms of production, but registered a slight month-on-month retreat amid operational issues at floating production, storage and offloading vessels, or FPSOs, installed at the field that caused crude and gas production to slide.

Four FPSOs are currently in operation at Buzios.

Buzios pumped 419,000 b/d in May, down from a record 429,000 b/d in April, PPSA said. Brazil receives 23.24% of profit oil from Buzios, which represented about 5,900 b/d in May.

Entorno de Sapinhoa produced 7,000 b/d in May, down from 10,000 b/d in May 2021 and 8,000 b/d in April, PPSA said. Brazil receives 80% of profit oil from the field, which represented 5,600 b/d in May.

The Tartaruga Verde Sudoeste area produced 4,000 b/d in May, down from 5,000 b/d in May 2021 and in line with the 4,000 b/d produced in March-April, PPSA said.

The Tartaruga Verde Sudoeste Field was unitized with the adjacent Tartaruga Verde Field operated by Petrobras. Brazil receives 10.01% of profit oil from the area, which represented about 400 barrels in May as production from the field continued to be used to settle accounts related to the unitization agreement, according to PPSA.

Natural gas output, meanwhile, fell for the first time in four months in May after operational issues reduced gas production from the Buzios field, PPSA said.

Gas output from production sharing fields tumbled to 414,000 cu m/d in May, a 39.4% increase from May 2021, PPSA said. May's gas production, however, sank 70.4% from April's 1.399 million cu m/d.

Buzios accounted for 197,000 cu m/d in April, down from 1.166 million cu m/d in April, PPSA said.

Brazil's share of gas output dipped to 149,000 cu m/d in May, down from 177,000 cu m/d in May 2021, PPSA said. May's share of gas production also fell from the 164,000 cu m/d registered in April.