Oil and gas fields already paid for and in production can sustain Brazilian state-run company Petroleo Brasileiro SA for two to three years of low prices, a board member for the firm told reporters on Friday.

“We have various fields where the cost per barrel is $50 and most or all of them have had their investment completed. Today, the cost to carry on production will cost less or nearly nothing,” Petrobras board member Segen Estefen told reporters at an event in Rio de Janeiro.

Estefen did not specify which fields had already been paid for, but said that after two to three years as these fields run out, the situation would become “more complicated” if the oil price did not recover.

Earlier on Friday, Petrobras slashed its oil and natural gas reserves 20% to 10.52 Bboe as of Dec. 31, the lowest level since 2001, according to standards set by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Petrobras booked 13.13 Bboe a year earlier.

The reserve decline comes as a plunge in oil prices, high level of debt, high costs and a corruption scandal restrict further development of giant but expensive discoveries in the last decade.

Source: www.worldoil.com

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