Petrobras Reports Record Q1 Output as Refining Runs Hit 12-Year Peak

Overview

• Petrobras, which reported Thursday, said total oil and gas output rose 16% year over year to 3.225 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.
• Pre-salt fields produced 2.189 million barrels per day, up 17.8% from a year earlier, helped by 10 new wells starting up in the Campos and Santos basins.
• Refinery use averaged 95% in the quarter, with March hitting 97.4%, the highest since December 2014, and S10 low-sulfur diesel set a production record at 512,000 barrels per day.
• Domestic sales of refined products reached 1.74 million barrels per day, up 2.8% from a year earlier, while diesel imports fell 25.8% to 49,000 barrels per day.
• Crude exports jumped 61% to 888,000 barrels per day, with China taking 62% of volumes, which concentrates Petrobras’s sales in the world’s largest seaborne oil buyer.