led oil company Petrobras said Friday it will produce more than any other publicly listed oil company at 6 million barrels of oil equivalent a day in 2020, 10 percent more than its previous estimate. The expanded production estimate, presented by Chief Financial Officer Almir Barbassa Friday in Rio de Janeiro, is based primarily on the addition of new ultra-deep-water assets and exploration areas near Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. The previous global estimate, announced in 2010, was 5.4 million barrels. Of that figure, about 1.13 million barrels a day, or 23 percent was natural gas. About 6 percent of the estimate refers to oil and gas production outside of Brazil. More than half of the output is likely to go to export markets, making Petrobras one of the major suppliers of oil outside of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. It will also allow Brazil to challenge the United States as the world's No. 3 producer after Russia and Saudi Arabia. "Petrobras today is the third largest energy company in the world, and the second largest oil company among those that are publicly listed," Barbassa said during a speech at the company's research center. The company will be producing "6 million barrels per day within 10 years," he said. The current production leader is ExxonMobil with 4.4 million barrels of oil and gas equivalent output a day in 2010. The output estimate increase also signals Petrobras may be planning to ramp up its already ambitious production targets when it releases its highly-awaited five-year business plan. Barbassa declined further comment. In clarifying the CFO comments, a press spokesman said the 6-million barrel a day figure referred to barrels of oil equivalent rather than simply barrels of oil. Barrels of oil equivalent refers to oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids into a single measure. A second company spokesman told reporters the higher production figure includes oil to be produced from offshore areas that hold an estimated 5 billion barrels of oil that Petrobras acquired as part of its $70 billion 2010 share offering. Brazil hopes to become a major oil exporter by tapping crude from the deep-water region known as the subsalt, which is believed to hold more than 50 billion barrels of crude and has become a new frontier for global oil exploration. The company in the coming weeks is expected to release a new 5-year investment plan covering the period between 2011 to 2015, updating its previous $224 billion 2010-2014 business plan. Analysts expect the total outlays in the new plan to be in line with the current plan.
