Petrobras has completed ten years of production in the Santos Basin pre-salt cluster in May, with above-average efficiency and productivity indicators in the offshore industry. There are 16 platforms and more than 150 wells operating in that pole alone, which account for 90% of all of the Brazilian pre-salt production. Lifting costs below $7 a barrel and high field productivity rank the pre-salt as one of the most competitive frontiers in the industry.

Our accumulated operated production reached 2.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent in this layer in a single decade, a volume that corresponds to Argentina’s entire proven reserve, for example. Today, the Santos and Campos basin pre-salt clusters already account for approximately 60% of the domestic production.

Production in the pre-salt layer set a new record in April: A monthly average of 1.94 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, reaching a daily production peak of 2.07 million barrels.

“The unique characteristics of the Santos Basin pre-salt, such as its location in ultra-deep waters, the 2-km-thick salt layer, and the distance of 300 km from the coast were an unprecedented challenge for Petrobras and the industry. However, ten years after the first oil from Tupi, we not only developed novel solutions to overcome the pre-salt challenges, using the highest technical competence, but also proved its economic feasibility and set a succession of records. We have plenty of reasons to celebrate this date,” said our Exploration and Production Director, Carlos Alberto Pereira de Oliveira.

Future vision

In the last 11 months, six platforms have gone on stream in the Santos Basin pre-salt cluster, each with a capacity to produce up to 150,000 barrels of oil per day. And the expectations for the coming years are even more promising, since the projects for that layer are our main investment front: Of the 11 platforms planned for the next five years, seven will be deployed in the Santos Basin pre-salt and one in the Campos Basin pre-salt, with a forecast of $27 billion in the next five years.

In addition, in the Mero Field, FPSO Pioneiro de Libra, aimed at collecting information about the reservoir prior to the deployment of the definitive system, has already surpassed the mark of 60,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day with a single interconnected well, a sign of high future potential.

Part of the success in this region is due to the exchanges of experiences with major companies operating in the industry that work in partnership with us.

About Petrobras

We have upwards of 100 production platforms, 16 refineries, 30,000 kilometers of pipelines and more than 6,000 service stations. Our proved reserves are around 14 billion barrels of oil, a figure expected to double in the next few years. With the discovery of oil and gas in the pre-salt region, Brazil may become the world's fourth biggest oil producer in 2030.

We have built a track record of overcoming challenges since 1953, when the company was created. The main one was developing technology to explore and produce oil in deep and ultra-deep waters, where upwards of 90% of our reserves are nestled. With innovation and daringness, we are now the Brazilian company that makes the applies for the most patents in Brazil and abroad.