Publications

Survey of Energy Resources 2007

Crude Oil and Natural Gas Liquids Country Notes

Brazil's proved reserves feature significantly within the Western Hemisphere - not quite in the same league as the four largest producers (Venezuela, USA, Canada and Mexico), but greater than the sum of those in all other countries in South America apart from Venezuela. Most of the reserves located up until the mid-1970s were in the north-east and central regions, remote from the main centres of oil demand in the south and south-east. Discoveries in offshore areas, in particular the Campos Basin, transformed the reserves picture.

The level of proved recoverable reserves of oil (1 871.6 million m³, equal to
11 772 million barrels) reported by the Brazilian WEC Member Committee corresponds with the figure for 'measured/indicated/inventoried reserves' published by the Ministério de Minas e Energia in its Balanço Energético Nacional 2006 (BEN), and is 20% higher than that advised for the 2004 Survey. The standard published assessments of proved reserves are currently all in line with the reported level. Of the reserves reported by the Member Committee, 92.5% is located offshore.

Additional recoverable reserves, based on 'inferred/estimated reserves' in the BEN, are reported as 693.1 million m³ (equivalent to 4 359 million barrels or 589 million tonnes).

Oil production has followed a strongly upward trend for more than 10 years, reaching an average of over 1.7 million b/d in 2005, with 83% of Brazil's output being processed in domestic refineries.