Brazil’s oil and gas output reaches third straight record in April

Brazil’s oil and gas sector set another production milestone in April 2026, with total output reaching 5.640 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. It was the country’s third record in a row, according to figures released on Tuesday, June 2, by ANP, Brazil’s national oil, natural gas and biofuels regulator.

The combined metric, barrels of oil equivalent per day, or boe/d, allows oil and natural gas to be reported together. Oil is normally measured in barrels per day, while gas is measured in cubic metres per day. Using boe/d gives a clearer view of the overall scale of Brazil’s hydrocarbon production.

Pre-salt carries the record

The April result was overwhelmingly driven by the pre-salt, the deep offshore geological layer that has become the backbone of Brazil’s oil and gas growth. Pre-salt wells produced 4.614 million boe/d in the month, equal to 81.8 percent of national output.

That concentration highlights how much Brazil’s upstream profile now depends on technically complex offshore assets. Offshore fields accounted for 98.1 percent of the country’s oil production and 88 percent of its natural gas output in April.

Petrobras remained at the centre of the system. Fields operated by the state-controlled oil company, either independently or through consortia with other companies, represented 88.98 percent of Brazil’s total production. The figures underline the company’s continuing operational weight even as Brazil’s pre-salt areas include a range of consortium partners.

Oil, gas and the leading assets

Oil production reached 4.340 million barrels per day in April. That was 2.2 percent higher than in March and 19.5 percent above the level recorded in April 2025.

Natural gas also advanced. Output came to 206.7 million cubic metres per day, up 1.3 percent from March and 23 percent compared with April 2025. The parallel increase in both oil and gas shows that the latest record was not tied to a single product category.

Among individual fields, Búzios, in the Santos basin, continued to lead Brazil’s oil production. The field produced 910,100 barrels per day in April, making it the country’s largest oil producer.

Mero, also in the Santos basin, was the top natural gas field, with 46.22 million cubic metres per day. Together, Búzios and Mero remain among the most important assets in the national production mix.

At the facility level, the highest oil output came from the FPSO Almirante Tamandaré, operating in the Búzios, Tambuatá and Búzios ECO area. An FPSO is a floating production, storage and offloading unit, widely used in deepwater oil operations.

For natural gas, the leading production unit was the FPSO Marechal Duque de Caxias, located in the Mero field.

Working with Brazil Business Club

For investors and companies watching Brazil, the April production record is a useful reminder that the country’s energy story is increasingly offshore, capital intensive and closely tied to pre-salt performance. Field productivity, operator structure, infrastructure needs and regulatory developments all matter when assessing opportunities in the sector.

Brazil Business Club connects international executives, investors and partners with the local context behind headlines like this one. If you are exploring energy investment, supply chain opportunities or broader business expansion in Brazil, connect with the club to understand the market and build the right relationships.