Petrobras (PBR)

The Cottonwood Field starts producing in the US

(Rio de Janeiro, February 5, 2007). – PETRÓLEO BRASILEIRO S/A - PETROBRAS, [Bovespa: PETR3/PETR4, NYSE: PBR/PBRA, Latibex: XPBR/XPBRA, BCBA: APBR/APBRA], a Brazilian international energy company, today announced that the first well of the new Cottonwood field has been brought online yesterday, through its wholly owned subsidiary Petrobras America Inc., headquartered in Houston,. Initial output is 1.1 million cubic meters of gas and 4,000 barrels of light oil (condensate) per day. A second well will also start production by the end of February, boosting gas production to 2 million cubic meters per day. Together, the two wells will take the field production to 20,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

As a result, Cottonwood will be the biggest Petrobras America field in production, leading the subsidiary’s production to surpass 25,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed) already this month, up from the current 5,500 boed. This is the first deepwater field Petrobras has developed and put into production abroad as an operator.

The field is also an example of the integrated work of specialists from several of the company’s units in Brazil, with Petrobras America’s team, integrating Petrobras’ experience and technology with the Gulf of Mexico’s market practices. The outcome of this joint work has brought the project from blueprints into operation a mere 12 months after the company’s Executive Board approval.

The Cottonwood field is located in Garden Banks quadrant block 244, in the American sector of the Gulf of Mexico, in a water depth of 670 meters. This is the company’s first field to use submarine equipment and systems capable of operating under high pressure. The field’s two submarine completion wells are interconnected to a third-party fixed production platform, located 27 km away, via two production pipelines and a chemical product control and injection umbilical cable.

This event marks Petrobras’ return, as an operator, to Gulf of Mexico production fields.

www.petrobras.com.br/ri/english
Contacts: PETRÓLEO BRASILEIRO S. A. – PETROBRAS
Investor Relations Department I Raul Adalberto de Campos - Gerente Executivo I E-mail: petroinvest@petrobras.com.br
Av. República do Chile, 65 – 22^nd floor - 20031-912 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ I Tel.: 55 (21) 3224-1510 / 9947

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