State-controlled Brazilian oil and gas multinational Petrobras broke its export record in the month of March. The company shipped 733,000 barrels out of the country per day. In total, sales reached 22.73 million barrels in the whole month, which exceeded the previous record, for December 2008, by 113,000 barrels.
The figures refer to the volume of barrels shipped. Revenues for the shipments should only come in April or May this year, according to figures disclosed by the company. The greatest buyers abroad in March were the United States, with 32% of the total. Then came India, 22%, China, 20%, Europe, 18%, and then Japan and Canada, each having purchased 4%.
Last year, the company exported on average 705,000 barrels a day. The result of exports generated a surplus of US$ 2.8 billion in the trade balance, with a surplus of 156,000 barrels a day. The figures do not include the gas sector. The result was due to greater sales of oil and oil products, which rose 4.8% over 2008. The greater Brazilian production of oil and 23% reduction in all products exported, like diesel, also contributed to the surplus.
Exclusive production of oil reached a daily average of 1.97 million barrels in 2009, growth of 6.3% over 2008. The volume of natural gas produced, in turn, was 50.343 million cubic metres a day, remaining at the same level as production in 2008. When taking into consideration the company’s average daily production in other countries, the output reached 2.5 million barrels of oil equivalent (oil and gas), growth of 5.2% over 2008.
