Total Aims to Triple Its Production in Brazil Over the Next 4 Years.

With Acquisitions of Percentages in Various Fields of Pre-Salt, This Aspiration in the Oil and Gas Sector Is Getting Closer to Happening.

Total S.A is a company in the petrochemical and energy sector headquartered in La Défense in Paris. Present in more than 130 countries employing over 1,000,000 people, the group has been present in Brazil for over 40 years. Currently, five of its subsidiaries operate in the country in the segments of Exploration & Production, Marketing & Services, Refining & Chemicals, and Gas, Renewable Energies & Power. In Brazil alone, the company has more than 2,000 employees committed to better energy.

Considered an important country for the group’s global growth strategy, Brazil has the potential of oil and gas reserves with the Libra Field in the pre-salt of the Santos Basin.

The large French multinational aims to more than triple its oil and gas production in Brazil over the next four years. According to Total Exploration and Production’s global president Arnaud Breuillac, he announced this week that the company’s goal is to reach a production of 100,000 barrels per day of oil (BOE/day) in the country by 2022.

Currently in Brazil, it produces about 30,000 boe/day. Total operates in the Lapa Field and holds a minority stake in Petrobras in assets such as Iara and Libra, all in the pre-salt of the Santos Basin.

The global president highlighted that the company has built a portfolio of “high-quality” assets in the country in recent years, having very competitive assets in deep waters, with a growing low-cost production.

Earlier this year, the company acquired a 35% stake (and the operation) of the Lapa Field from Petrobras, becoming the first foreign oil company to operate a pre-salt field. The intention is to initiate a new phase of production in the field starting next year (2019).

The French state-owned company is also a partner of Petrobras with a 20% stake in the Mero project, which is the northwestern part of the Libra field, which began the testing phase in November last year. Total estimates that Libra has a potential for 3 to 4 billion barrels of oil. The oil company also holds 20% of the Gato do Mato project, still in the pre-salt, operated by Shell, which will start drilling in 2019, and in January acquired a 22.5% stake from Petrobras in the Iara rights, expected to start producing later this year.

The acquisitions valued at US$1.95 billion for the Lapa and Iara fields were the main move for Total in Brazil since 2013. The multinational did participate in the auctions of 2017 and 2018 but did not acquire many assets.

In total, the company has a portfolio of 17 blocks for exploration in the Santos, Foz do Amazonas, Ceará, Barreirinhas, Espírito Santo, and Pelotas basins.

With all these acquisitions and expectations for production increase, Total will need qualified, dedicated labor, with up-to-date English and attuned to the oil and gas world that still has much to be explored.