Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras PBR recently released statements about the production output targets it achieved and a rise in oil and gas reserves in 2024. The company was able to accomplish the predetermined levels of production despite facing various challenges.
PBR further aims to release its 2024 production and sales report ahead of its fourth-quarter financial earnings on Feb. 26.
In 2024, Petrobras successfully met its oil and gas production goals, as outlined in its 2024-2028 plan, with a production variance of only ±4%. The company achieved a total production of 2.7 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed), with commercial production reaching 2.4 million boed and oil production standing at 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd).
A key milestone achieved by Petrobras was its record-breaking production in the pre-salt region, where total owned and operated production reached 2.2 million boed and 3.2 million boed, respectively. The pre-salt production volume accounted for about 81% of the company’s overall production.
Apart from achieving production milestones, Petrobras also recorded a rise in its proven reserves of oil, condensate and natural gas to 11.4 billion boe in 2024, up from 10.9 billion boe in 2023. 85% of the recorded reserves consist of oil and condensate, and the remaining 15% are natural gas. Furthermore, PBR added 1.3 billion boe to its reserves, offsetting a production output of 900 million boe, maintaining a reserve replacement rate of 154%.
This growth was primarily driven by developments in the Atapu and Sépia fields, along with strong performance from key assets like Búzios, Itapu, and Tupi in the Santos Basin.
For the year ended 2024, Petrobras also marked significant developments in infrastructure, including the launch of two major Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) platforms ahead of schedule. The FPSO Maria Quitéria began operations in the Jubarte field of the Campos Basin, originally scheduled to start in 2025, while FPSO Marechal Duque de Caxias commenced production in the Mero field of the Santos Basin. Additionally, the FPSO Sepetiba platform reached maximum oil production capacity within eight months.
The extraordinary performance of these FPSO platforms helped offset production losses due to maintenance stoppages, decline of mature fields, unforeseen shutdowns imposed by regulatory authorities and the effects of the Ibama strike.
Another key achievement was the start of commercial operations at the Natural Gas Processing Unit in the Boaventura Energy Complex. This facility began operations in November and has a processing capacity of 10.5 million cubic meters of gas per day through its first module.
Despite the challenges, the notable results were achieved primarily due to the integrated efforts of the entire company, which highlights Petrobras’ commitment to its shareholders and the Brazilian society.
Rio de Janeiro-based Petrobras is the largest integrated energy firm in Brazil. In addition to exploring, exploiting and producing oil from shale, other rocks and reservoir wells, the firm also refines, processes, trades and transports natural gas, oil products and other fluid hydrocarbons. Currently, PBR has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Investors interested in the energy sector might look at top-ranked stocks like SM Energy Company SM, Equinor ASA EQNRandGulfport Energy Corporation GPOR.While SM Energy and Equinor currently sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) each, Gulfport Energy carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Denver, CO-based SM Energy Company is an independent oil and gas company engaged in the exploration, exploitation, development, acquisition and production of natural gas and crude oil in North America. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for SM’s 2024 earnings indicates 15.11% year-over-year growth.
Headquartered in Stavanger, Norway, Equinor is one of the premier integrated energy companies in the world, with operations spreading across 30 countries. EQNR’s expected EPS growth rate for the next five years is 5.30%, which aligns favorably with the industry growth rate of 5%.
Gulfport Energy is an independent natural gas and oil company focused on the exploration and development of natural gas and oil properties in North America. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for GPOR’s 2024 earnings indicates 108.53% year-over-year growth.
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