Petrobras Beats 2025 Output Targets as Pre-Salt Drives Record Production

Brazil’s state-controlled oil major tops its own guidance for oil and gas, setting historical records and reinforcing the centrality of the pre-salt to its growth strategy.

Jan 15, 2026 12:00 PM

By Brazil Stock Guide – Petrobras exceeded its production targets for 2025, posting record output levels as new floating platforms in the pre-salt reached full capacity and operational efficiency improved across the portfolio. Oil production averaged 2.40 million barrels a day, above the upper end of the company’s guidance range, while total oil and gas output climbed to 2.99 million barrels of oil equivalent a day, also surpassing internal targets.

The results mark an 11% increase versus 2024 and cap a year in which Petrobras simultaneously broke historical records for oil production, commercial output and total volumes — milestones achieved more than seven decades after the company’s founding. Commercial production reached 2.62 million barrels of oil equivalent a day, underscoring the scale of barrels effectively brought to market rather than merely produced.

Growth was overwhelmingly concentrated in the pre-salt, which accounted for 82% of Petrobras’s total production. Output in the prolific Búzios and Mero fields was boosted by the start-up of the FPSOs Almirante Tamandaré and Alexandre de Gusmão, while the Marechal Duque de Caxias unit reached peak production. Almirante Tamandaré alone averaged around 240,000 barrels a day in November and December, making it the highest-producing platform ever operated in Brazil.

Operational gains also came from the ramp-up of FPSOs Maria Quitéria, Anita Garibaldi and Anna Nery, alongside efficiency improvements across existing units. In Búzios, Petrobras reached one million barrels a day of operated production with just six platforms — a figure that highlights the exceptional productivity of the reservoir. The seventh unit, P-78, which entered operation at the very end of the year, is expected to help sustain production growth going forward.

Beyond headline volumes, the figures reinforce Petrobras’s strategic bet on large-scale pre-salt developments to deliver cash generation and capital discipline. With guidance once again surpassed, the challenge now shifts from ramp-up to consistency — maintaining reliability, safety and environmental standards while extracting maximum value from Brazil’s most important oil province.