Brazilian state oil company Petrobras will start pumping oil from a Nigerian field on July 21, company officials said on Saturday.
Petroleo Brasileiro SA expects to begin producing oil “of the highest quality” in the offshore Agbami field in partnership with French oil company Total SA and California-based ChevronTexaco Corp, Petrobras’ Nigeria manager Rudy Ferreira told the Agencia Brasil state news service.
The company plans to immediately pump 100,000 barrels a day from the field and will boost output to 250,000 barrels a day by next year, Ferreira said.
Since 1998, Petrobras has invested about US$2.2 billion in oil exploration and production in Nigeria, where it owns shares in three fields.
The company’s Nigerian operations are expected to yield about US$2 billion a year in revenue next year, given oil prices of US$80 a barrel, Ferreira said.
Light, sweet crude oil reached a record US$142.99 a barrel on Friday.
Company officials announced plans to boost African investments last fall, earmarking US$1.4 billion to be used for Nigerian projects and US$900 million for Angolan projects between this year and 2012.
Petrobras is riding a wave of optimism following a handful of major oil discoveries, including more than 5 billion barrels at its offshore Tupi field last year.
In April, a top energy official announced a deepwater find off Rio de Janeiro that could approach 33 billion barrels, among the world’s largest. Petrobras downplayed that estimate, saying further studies were necessary.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
RSS