Petrobras in talks to raise crude exports to India

Brazilian national oil exploration firm Petrobras is in negotiations to increase crude oil exports to Indian refineries, a top company official said here today.

"We are in negotiations on increasing crude oil exports to India," said Petrobras Singapore Pvt Ltd Managing Director Sillas Oliva Filho.

However, Brazil's purchases of diesel and gas oil from Indian refineries are likely to see a decline in the coming years as the South American nation's own refining capacity is ramped up, he said at a press conference led by Petrobras Chief Executive Officer Jose Sergio Gabrielli de Azevedo.

Elaborating, Gabrielli said Brazil aims to export 1.6 million barrels of crude per day, mostly to the United States and China. He also said increasing export quantities to India would depend on negotiations.

Petrobras currently exports between 2 and 4 million barrels of crude per month to India and imports between 600,000 and 1.2 million tonne per month of diesel and gas oil for its domestic consumption due to a shortage of domestic refining capacity.

However, the scenario will change when Brazil boosts its refining capacity to 3.1 million barrels per day.

In the longer term, Brazil aims to produce 6 million barrels per day of crude oil and natural gas, 4.9 million barrels of which would be crude oil.

This would give Brazil, estimated to be endowed with 35 billion barrels of hydrocarbon resources, the capacity to export 1.6 million barrels per day in the next 10 years.