The bright spot for crude production....
Petrobas output down 5%YOY
Brazil is one of the few countries expected to increase output. But instead, production of oil was down 5%YOY. Everyone talks about capacity and the ability to pump lots of oil. But many of the fields are complex, the equipment complex and as the complexity rises, downtime increases. Thus, a production is well below 'capacity'. Petrobas had this happen for the past couple of months. Of course they quickly say all is fine and the shut-down was just temporary. While in a sense the statement is correct, if your process is very complex, then downtime will be increased and the reasonable production levels are well below 'capacity'. One reason Peak Oil is about production, is as more and more complex oil fields are brought online, the more and more the fields require downtime. Thus, the actual production is limited.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Domestic oil output by Brazil's state-run energy company Petrobras (PETR4.SA: Quote, Profile, Research)(PBR.N: Quote, Profile, Research) fell 2.3 percent in October from September in its fourth straight monthly drop and was a steep 5 percent below year-ago levels on one unscheduled and two programmed rig stoppages.
Petrobras, which accounts for nearly all crude production and refining in Latin America's largest country, said in a statement on Wednesday that it pumped an average of 1.73 million barrels per day last month, below last year's average of 1.78 million bpd.
reuters.com |
