RIO DE JANEIRO--Brazilian state-run energy giant Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR, PETR3.BR, PETR4.BR), or Petrobras, expects flagging domestic crude oil output to recover in the fourth quarter of this year.
The company expects to install two floating production, storage and offloading vessels, or FPSOs, in the second half of the year, Chief Executive Maria das Gracas Foster said during a conference call Monday.
The two FPSOs will have a combined installed production capacity of 180,000 barrels a day.
Maintenance work that dropped second-quarter output by 2.4% year-on-year will continue into the third quarter, Ms. Foster said. Petrobras expects output to grow plus or minus 2% in 2012 from 2011, maintaining estimates made in June when the company unveiled its $237-billion investment plan through 2016.
Petrobras wrote off 41 dry or non-commercial wells in the second quarter, representing a cost of 2.74 billion Brazilian reais ($1.35 billion), Ms. Foster said.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 06, 2012 10:37 ET (14:37 GMT)
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