Petrobras Finds More Light Oil In Brazil: To Be Number One Producer by 2015, 100B Barrels Reserves

These are staggering numbers. Petrobras announced today that it found a new sweet light oil well just to the south of the Santos basin. PBR owns the rights to 80% of the oil in this well, with Karoon Oil owning the rest. The depth of the drilled well is 2,200m, actually shallow for pre-salt standards.

According to Almir Guilherme Barbassa, its chief financial officer, Petrobras aims to be the world's largest oil producer by 2015.

This pull-back on the price of oil might just be the chance to get in.

Almir Guilherme Barbassa told the Guardian that Petrobras would be one of the biggest beneficiaries of new legislation that will grant the company a minimum 30% stake in each new discovery and will also be the lead operator in all new projects. It means that "Big Oil" – companies such as BP, Shell and ExxonMobil – will have to play second fiddle to Petrobras for access to Brazil's vast reserves.

Petrobras is aiming to more than double production over the next decade to 5.4M barrels of oil and gas per day, "which is likely to be the most produced by any publicly quoted company in the world". As a reference, BP was the biggest producer last year, at just under 4M barrels per day, but has indicated in future it will produce less as it restructures and sells assets following the Gulf of Mexico disaster. XOM, ExxonMobil, is only aiming for growth of about 2% or 3% each year over the next few years.

Mr. Barbassa indicated that Petrobras could reach its goal much sooner, and become the world's largest publicly quoted oil producer as early as 2015. [...] Between 2015 and 2020 the target could happen."
He added:  "You are not going to find another company which has the same potential as Petrobras anywhere in the world. Most large companies are producing 40% or more of gas. It's a different kind of energy in terms of price and ability to trade."

Petrobras has booked "recoverable volumes" of up to 15B barrels of oil and gas, giving it a total reserve base of at least 30B barrels. Total pre-salt reserves are currently estimated at 50B-100B barrels, similar to Russia and Kuwait.

ExxonMobil's total proven reserves is about 23B barrels.