Brazil Has Lost Its Status as Net Oil Exporter, Estado Reports

By Jeb Blount

Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Brazil has lost its status as a net exporter of oil two years after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva declared the country´s independence from imports, the Estado de S. Paulo newspaper said.

Brazil imported 243.5 million barrels of oil and oil derivatives through November, and exported 221.9 million barrels, the newspaper said, citing data from the ANP, Brazil’s petroleum regulator. That was an average daily deficit of 65,000 barrels a day, the newspaper reported.

In 2006 and 2007, Brazil exported 73,200 barrels a day of oil and oil products more than it imported, Estado said, citing the ANP. The deficit is caused by Brazil´s economic growth and greater demand for diesel, which the country´s refineries can’t produce in sufficient amounts, Estado said.

Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil’s state-controlled oil company, exported an average of 54,000 barrels a day more of oil and oil products than in imported in the first 11 months of 2008, Estado said, citing Paulo Roberto Costa, the company’s head of refining.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeb Blount in Rio de Janeiro at jblount@bloomberg.net