Brazil's state-owned oil and gas giant Petrobras announced on Wednesday that its domestic oil and gas production reached an average 2.2 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day in January, up 0.7 percent from December and 4.8 percent from the same period last year.

The company's total oil and natural gas production was 2.4 million boe per day in January, the same amount as that in December and up 3.8 percent from January 2008.

Domestic oil production reached a record 1.9 million barrels per day, up 2.5 percent from December and 5.3 percent from January 2008.

According to Petrobras, the increase was due to the start of production in the P-51 platform, located in the Marlim Sul field off Brazil's southeastern coast, the increased output by the P-53 platform and the production of new wells in the Marlim field.

The company's oil production abroad totaled 214,956 barrels per day in January, down 7.3 percent from December and 5.3 percent from the same period last year.

Domestic natural gas production reached an average 47,095 million cubic meters per day in January, down 9.9 percent from December, while natural gas production abroad totaled an average 15,762 million cubic meters per day, down 7.7 percent from December.

Petrobras has decided to increase its investments to US$174.4 billion for the 2009-2013 period despite the low oil prices in international market.

(Xinhua News Agency February 19, 2009)