Brazil produced a record volume of natural gas in 2021, with an increase of 5% over 2020 production, reported today (3), in Rio de Janeiro, the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP). Oil production fell by 1.18% compared to 2020.
The total amount of natural gas produced in the country’s wells per day last year averaged 134 million cubic meters. In 2020, average productivity was 127 million cubic meters per day (MMm³/d). In the case of oil, production dropped from 2.940 million barrels per day in 2020, going to 2.905 million barrels per day in 2021.
The data are part of the ANP’s Monthly Oil and Natural Gas Production Bulletin for December 2021, released this Thursday. When considering only the last month of last year, oil production fell by 0.5% compared to November, while natural gas dropped 3.2%. In the comparison of December 2021 with December 2020, both grew 4.1%.
The regulatory agency’s bulletin also reported that the fields operated by Petrobras were responsible for 93% of national oil and gas production in December.
Pre-salt
Another highlight is that the 133 wells in activity in the pre-salt were responsible for 73.8% of all oil and gas produced in Brazil. In these wells, production growth in December, compared to 2020, reached 11.5%, while compared to November 2021, there was a drop of 0.2%.
The use of natural gas extracted from the wells in December was 97.5%, according to the ANP. 54.4 MMm³/day were made available to the market, while gas flaring was 3.3 MMm³/d. The amount burned was 12.12% lower compared to the previous month and 9.2% higher compared to the same month in 2020.
The ANP highlighted that the Tupi field, in the pre-salt layer of the Santos Basin, was the largest producer of oil and natural gas in the country, while the Petrobras 70 platform, in the Búzios field, was the facility with the highest oil production. , and the FPSO Cidade de Itaguaí platform vessel, in the Tupi field, was the one with the highest production of natural gas.
In December, offshore fields produced 97% of the country’s oil and 84.4% of its natural gas.
