Thumper --- Oil exports to China

Oil production in Brazil reached a new high of 1.1 billion barrels in 2022. This compared to a natural gas production of 50.34 billion cubic meters, which also constituted a new peak in annual extraction volumes. Natural gas is often produced alongside crude oil. Brazil’s oil and gas reserves are primarily found in so-called pre- and post-salt layers. They are geological formations located around underground salt deposits. Petrobras is the largest company within Brazil’s oil and gas industry. The company’s hegemony is the result of more than four decades of exclusive rights to oil exploration in the country. Although legally the company has not held a monopoly since 1997, it remains largely unrivaled, accounting for more than 90 percent of the national crude oil production. Disregarding domestic consumption, the majority of oil from Brazil is exported to China. Nearly every second barrel sold from Brazil ends up in Asia’s largest economy. The export price of Brazil’s oil usually fluctuates along developments in the wider global oil market, and as such recorded notable lows throughout 2020 and reached a high in the summer of 2022.