Official: Brazil may become world’s 7th largest oil producer

Brazil may rise to become the seventh largest oil producer globally from its current status as the world’s 13th if the estimated oil reserve in its deepwater offshore fields is confirmed, a minister said on Thursday.

The estimated oil reserve in the four fields of the pre-salt region, located beneath a layer of salt with thickness of around 2,000 meters and some 7,000 meters under the seabed, could reach 16 billion barrels, twice Brazil’s current production, Minister of Mines and Energy Edison Lobao said.

“That (the four fields) represents 30 percent of the pre-salt. There is no way to estimate what can come from the remaining 70 percent,” Lobao said.

The minister said the exploration of the fields will follow new regulations aimed at assuring the largest share of the oil and gas extracted for Brazil.

Under the new rules, Brazil’s state-controlled oil and gas giant Petrobras will participate in the exploration, with at least a 30 percent stake. Private companies may bid for stakes in the remaining 70 percent, but Petrobras can bid too, in order to increase its participation.

According to Lobao, the 1.3 trillion barrels of oil that still exist in the world can end in less than 50 years if the exploration continues at the current pace.