The new petroleum platform, or drilling rig, P-50, which is now ready to be moved to the Albacora Leste oil field in the Campos Basin, off the northern coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro, will ensure that Brazil becomes self-sufficient in petroleum this year.
Petrobras, the state-owned oil company, had promised that Brazil would reach self-sufficiency in oil last year, but that goal was never reached.
Petrobras spent US$ 634 million on the rig, which is the largest ever developed in Brazil. It has the capacity to produce 180,000 barrels of petroleum per day.
Pedro Barusco, the managing executive of Engineering at Petrobras, explained that the excellent performance by Petrobras over the last few years has been the result of heavy investments and intense team work. In 2005, according to Barusco, the firm invested US$ 4 billion and created 53,000 new jobs.
And the president of Petrobras, José Sergio Gabrielli, pointed out that when the firm was founded in 1953 it produced 2,600 barrels a day.
"Today our engineers have made it possible to produce 1.8 million barrels per day in domestic oil fields alone," he declared.
ABr