2003: a very good year

Petrobras found 6.6bn boe in 2003 and could become self-sufficient in oil as early as next year. It is projecting gas-market growth of over 14% a year and will increasingly be able to supply domestic demand from newly discovered domestic gasfields. It plans to raise overseas production from 270,000 b/d to 0.5m b/d before the end of the decade. Inside and outside Brazil, things are looking up. Tom Nicholls talks to Néstor Cerveró, international director, and Francisco Nepomuceno Filho, executive manager, E&P

PETROBRAS' recent upstream successes have unlocked new potential in Brazil's offshore sector, greatly increased the company's reserves and future production capability, and promise to transform the dynamics of the Brazilian energy market. Nowhere will the impact be felt more keenly than in the gas industry. Indeed, such is the size of Petrobras' latest gas discoveries that a liquefaction plant could be built on the Brazilian coast by the end of the decade, says Néstor Cerveró, head of Petrobras' international division. The state-controlled company is in talks with an investment partner about the project, which would probably cost in the order of $2bn-3bn and would export liquefied natural ga