For all the talk of declining oil demand, Brazil is aiming to increase its domestic oil production by 80% before the end of the decade and surpass Canada as the world’s fourth-largest producer..South America’s largest oil exporter, which is presently ranked ninth ahead of Kuwait, but behind Iran, is hoping produce 5.4 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2029 which would surpass Canada’s 4.5 million bpd. The country hopes to hit 3.4 million bpd by the end of this year.. World oil producers 2020Canada is the world’s fourth largest oil producer. .That’s because international oil majors such as France’s TotalEnergies and Norway’s Equinor flocked to the country’s offshore following their respective exits from Canada’s oil sands..Brazil’s national oil company, Petrobras, further committed to spending $78 billion US over five years to expand output from existing fields and finding new ones backed by oil-friendly government policies..This is despite the election of socialist leader, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva — known as Lula — in January of this year, overturning the business friendly policies of his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro..Lula, who previously served as Brazil’s president from 2003-11, gained a reputation as a Chavez-style socialist whose policies nearly bankrupted the country and led to Petrobas becoming the most indebted oil company in the world. .In 2018, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison for accepting bribes, money laundering, influence peddling and obstruction of justice. He was released in 2019 after serving 580 days..Immediately after his re-election in October of last year, Petrobas lost 37% of its market capitalization even as he slapped a 10% tax on oil exports. .Nonetheless, Equinor in May approved a $9 billion offshore drilling project on the heels of a $1 billion project announcement by Total in January, which it called a “key growth area” for the company..By contrast, Equinor earlier this month delayed the $16 million Bay du Nord project off Newfoundland for up to three years. And earlier this year Total dumped the last of its Canadian oil sands assets to Suncor and ConocoPhillips..Despite decades of mismanagement and outright corruption, the message seems to be that Brazil is still an attractive place to invest and Canada isn’t..According to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development’s 2023 economic survey, “Canada needs to reform its Canada to escape years of weak investment and tepid productivity growth, reforms to improve the business climate are overdue.”. Canada living standards .Brazil’s oil and gas sector is expected to generate an estimated 445,000 direct or indirect jobs a year over the next decade and around $180 billion in investments over the same period.
