Petrobras September Oil Production Rises to Record, Gas Climbs

By Laura Price

Oct. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil's state-controlled oil company, said its monthly oil production rose to a record 1.89 million barrels a day in September.

Petrobras, as the company is known, said late yesterday in an e-mailed statement that total daily domestic output in September increased 7.26 percent from a year earlier and 1 percent from August. Natural gas output rose 24 percent compared with a year-ago and was unchanged from August.

Total international and domestic oil and gas output reached 2.45 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, a 7.6 percent increase from a year earlier and was unchanged from last month.

Output at the Rio de Janeiro-based company's Agbami field in Nigeria began in July and reached 8,667 barrels a day in September, Petrobras said. Petrobras operates the Agbami field in partnership with other oil companies.

The increase in Nigeria offset a decline in the U.S., which was affected by hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Laura Price in Sao Paulo at lprice3@bloomberg.net