Petrobras will boost investment plan to $74.5 billion

RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil's state oil company Petrobras on Thursday announced it will slightly boost its four-year investment plan to $74.5 billion between 2018 and 2022.

The company, which has been hit hard by a corruption scandal and falling crude oil prices, said investment would rise a notch from the $74.1 billion forecast last year for investment between 2017-2021.

Petrobras said in a statement that $60.3 billion of this sum would go toward exploration and production. Refining and transportation of natural gas will account for $13.1 billion of investments.

The company, which has embarked on a series of major auctions of deep-water oil fields in the Atlantic, said total production of gas and oil should rise from 2.7 million barrels per day in 2018 to 3.5 million bpd in 2022.

Brent crude prices are expected to rise from $53 per barrel next year to $73 in 2022, Petrobras said.