RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Production from the offshore Libra area in Brazil is expected to help Petrobras reach its long-term objectives, the company's president said.
State-controlled Petroleo Brasileiro, known also as Petrobras, said it expects the first oil to be extracted from the Libra area in 2020. Company President Maria das Gracas Silva Foster said investments in Libra will be more significant as 2020 draws nearer.
Oil workers with Petrobras staged a strike in mid-October to protest the auction for Libra. They wanted better wages and opposed a congressional measure for outsourcing of workers.
Royal Dutch Shell, French energy company Total, China National Petroleum Corp., China National Offshore Oil Corp., and Petrobras, won a 35-year production sharing contract last week for the Libra field in the Santos Basin off the coast of Brazil.
Foster said in a statement Wednesday the terms of the auction were "clear, objective and unambiguous."
The Brazilian government estimates the field holds at least 8 billion barrels of oil. Foster said the company was striving to produce 4.2 million barrels of oil per day by 2020, double its current production rate.
