Brazilian state-owned petroleum company Petrobras exported 1 million barrels of oil per day in April, representing a new oil export record, despite low oil demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The previous record was 771 thousand barrels per day, set in December 2019, the company informed.
This result came in a challenging period of the world economy, with vast reduction of global oil and oil products demand, caused by COVID-19.
Due to the strong contraction of the national market, Petrobras is directing efforts to export its production, after meeting domestic demand.
The volume exported in April is 145% higher than that sold internationally in April 2019.
The growth follows the trend observed in Q1 2020, when there was an increase of 25% in relation to the previous quarter (4Q19).
In the first four months of 2020, China was the main destination for sales, absorbing 60% of the oil exported.
Besides Asia, Petrobras usually sells oil to the USA, Europe, India and other Asian markets.
We expect to continue with a good performance of our exports, due to the resumption of demand from China together with actions to develop new markets for our products,
…said Anelise Lara, Chief Refining and Natural Gas Officer at Petrobras.