The oil output of Brazil soared by more than 20 percent for the current year to hit a new production record of 3.17 million barrels per day, the National Petroleum Agency (ANP) announced on Thursday.
Brazil's oil production rally and asset sales are part of a plan to dispossess non-core operations and give more premium on its offshore deep-water pre-salt region.
The country's total oil and natural gas output for January also set a new production record, surpassing 4 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) for the first time ever, ANP stated, noting that consolidated oil and gas output was pegged at more than 4 million boe/d.
Petrobras's net income rose to $10.2 billion in 2019 from $7.2 billion the previous year, reflecting gains from sales of assets. Petrobras is a Brazilian multinational firm in the petroleum industry based in Rio de Janeiro.
Apart from a proposition to unload weak-performing assets, Petrobras is also selling eight refineries as part of its divestment strategy and in deal with regulators to open the refining industry.
Oil firms operating in Brazil produced an average of 3.95 million barrels per day of oil in November, an increase of 4.3 percent from 3.9 million boe/d in October and exceeding the previous record of 3.7 million boe/d reached in August, the ANP said.
Brazil's oil production in the pre-salt region hit 2.2 million bpd last month, the ANP disclosed. The pre-salt oilfield Lula was the single largest oil company in the country, producing on average 1.1 million bpd.
Last year, Petrobras sold $16.3 billion in non-core portfolio, the company announced in its webcast presentation of its 2019 output.
The oil conglomerate, which also happens to be the most indebted oil company in the world, cut its gross debt by $24 billion last year. At the end of 2019, the company's gross debt was $87 billion, falling from $111 billion at the end of 2018.
Earlier this month, Petrobras bared that it had set another output quota in the last three months of 2019, pumping over 3 million barrels of oil per day, equivalent throughout the period.
Brazil's pre-salt territory is projected to further bolster the country's oil market this year, according to OPEC's latest Monthly Oil Market Report.
In the fourth quarter last year, Brazil's oil and gas production hit more than 3 million barrels of oil per day, which represents "a new milestone in Petrobras' history," as it breaks past the 3.0 boe/d threshold in a quarter for the first time, the company disclosed.
