Brazil’s state-owned oil company Petrobras may soon become the world’s largest oil producer among publicly listed companies by 2030, according to a report published by Rystad Energy.
The report revealed that Brazil’s Petrobras jumped two places from fifth to third in the current year to become the third-largest oil producer in the world with an output of 2.2 million barrels per day.
Rystad Energy said in a statement that currently, Russia’s Rosneft and PetroChina top the list of the world’s largest public exploration and production companies. However, based on Rystad Energy’s latest forecasts, Petrobras could overtake PetroChina over the next few months and potentially dethrone Rosneft over the next decade.
Petrobras highly benefitted from the recently held oil-auction in Brazil which was deemed unsuccessful as it failed to garner interests from major oil producers around the globe. Through the auction, Petrobras acquired 90 percent of the Buzios oil fields, which is the largest among the four oil fields that were put up for auction.
Rystad Energy stated that Brazil will invest around $70 billion between 2020 and 2025 to develop the Buzios oil field. Rystad believes this could help Petrobras become the world’s largest oil producer.
Recently, Petrobras started operations on the P-68 platform of the pre-salt Santos Basin. Located 230 km offshore Rio de Janeiro and at a depth of 2,280 metres, P-68 produces 150,000 barrels of oil and 6 million cubic meters of natural gas per day. While Petrobras is the chief operator with 42.5 percent interest, Shell owns a 25 percent interest in the project, Total owns 22.5 percent and Petrogal Brasil owns 10 percent interest.