Petrobras to Raise Production to 2 Mil Barrels/D of Oil in 2006

Petrobras (Brazil), oil company, will raise its production to 2 mil barrels/d of oil in 2006. It will be able to do so thanks to its eight-year development and production project in the oil deposits Barracuda and Carantinga, which will result in the mining of 300,000 barrels/d in 2006. At end 2004 Petrobras began mining on ship oil exploration platform P-43 and in Feb 2005 it started ship oil exploration platform P-48. The two mining vessels are interconnected with at least 54 wells, 34 of which are exploration and 20 injector. The Barracuda and Caratinga oil deposits produce 20% of Brazil’s oil output. They explore oil from the depth of 800 mt and 1,300 mt below the sea level, respectively, on an area of 494 sq mt. According to a study, Barracuda has oil supplies of 770 mil barrels and Caratinga 330 mil barrels of oil. The local natural gas supplies are 12 bil cu mt.