The Brazilian national oil and gas company Petrobras has launched the sale of a 50% interest in its legacy deep-water Marlim oil cluster, which produces 217,000 bbl/d of oil, accounting for 10% of the company’s total output. The sale is in line with Petrobras' strategy to sell non-core assets to reduce its debt and to focus investments in pre-salt areas off Brazil's waters.
In 2019, Petrobras posted a 5.4% increase in its global hydrocarbon production, to an average of 2,770 kboe/d. Petrobras' crude oil production in Brazil rose by 6.7% to an average of 2,172 kb/d, spurred by a 28.5% surge in pre-salt production (up to 1,277 kb/d) that offset a decline in oil production from post-salt areas (-14% to 704 kb/d), onshore areas (-8.1% to 124 kb/d) and shallow waters (-27% to 66 kb/d). Gas production in Brazil rose by 4.9% to 516 kboe/d on average in 2019, while oil and gas production outside Brazil contracted by 19% to 82 kboe/d.