Brazilian state-run energy giant Petroleo Brasileiro will invest $27 billion on domestic exploration through 2015, the company’s area manager for exploration and production said Thursday.
“In the near future, we will drill 573 wells,” Petrobras Hugo Repsold said during a presentation at the Latin Oil Week conference. The wells will be primarily focused in provinces in the southeast part of Brazil, Repsold said.
Petrobras could boost crude oil output to 3 million barrels a day by 2015, with natural gas production of about 75 million cubic meters a day as new projects come online, Repsold said.
The federal oil company is still evaluating its full five-year investment plan that will cover the 2011-2015 period, which is expected to include the first investments in areas that were part of an oil-for-shares swap with the government last year. But the company’s board of directors earlier this month asked that the investment plan be reviewed, causing a delay in its release.
Petrobras’ previous investment plan, covering the 2010-2014 periods, envisioned total investments of $224 billion.
