Brazil to become world's sixth oil producer by 2035: Petrobras

Brazil will become the world's sixth-largest oil producer by 2035, the head of the country's oil giant Petrobras said on Monday.

Petrobras CEO Maria das Gracas Silva Foster said Brazil will account for 6.1 percent of the global output in just over 20 years' time.

Gracas said during a seminar that her company aims to increase its output to 4.2 million barrels per day as of 2020.

The company's calculations are very similar to those made by independent, international agencies, she noted, acknowledging that there remain "some undefined factors," including "the pace of bidding in Brazil, carried out by the ANP (National Petroleum Agency), whether joint ventures or concessions."

Nearly 30 percent of Brazil's proven oil reserves are situated in so-called pre-salt oilfields, in deep waters of the Atlantic Ocean, under a thick layer of salt that can measure 2,000 meters deep in parts.

Potential deep-water reserves that have yet to be certified could account for 57 percent of newly-found deposits, said Gracas.

In May, Brazil's pre-salt oilfields produced 22 percent of Petrobras' total crude output, or some 470,000 barrels a day, and the goal is to reach 500,000 barrels soon.

"Pre-salt production has grown tenfold since 2010," said Gracas, underscoring how much progress the company has made in recent years in exploiting the pre-salt regions.

Still, the challenge is that "Petrobras must become increasingly more competitive and reduce its costs," said Gracas, in light of the company's first quarter results, which saw profits down by 30 percent.