Petrobras forecasts huge jump in crude exports

Brazil’s Petrobras expects oil exports to rise by 46% by 2014 and to more than triple by the end of the decade as it brings its huge subsalt fields onstream.

Crude shipments will reach 734,000 barrels per day within three years and 1.735 million bpd by 2020, according to Petrobras marketing official Leoncio Ackstein who was speaking at a conference in Singapore.

Exports will rise from a projected 505,000 bpd this year to 534,000 bpd. The oil will come from the 849,000 bpd of the company’s 11 export grades of crude it projects it will produce next year. Petrobras’ output is currently just shy of 2 million bpd.

The company expects production to reach 2.8 million bpd in 2014 and rocket to near 5 million bpd by the end of the decade.

Petrobras is targeting Asian markets for its expanding oil output as more subsalt projects such as the giant Lula field ramp up towards full production. Asian countries, particularly China, are positioning themselves to capture a significant slice of the expected boom in exports once Petrobras develops its subsalt reserves.

China has already signed a loans-for-oil deal with Petrobras and its oil companies have expressed interest in partnering with Petrobras in future subsalt exploration blocks still to be auctioned off by the Brazilian government.

On a visit to Brazil this year, US President Barack Obama also said the US wanted to be a major customer for Brazilian oil. Obama has come under attack for giving Petrobras US$2 billion in financing via the US Import-Export Bank to allow it buy equipment and services in the US for its ultra-deep sea drilling campaign while at the same time opposing relaxing strict regulations inhibiting deep-sea drilling off the US coast.