We turned 62 on Saturday (Oct. 03), and continue setting daily operating records. For the first time in history, the total output operated in Brazil, including the portion we operate for partner companies, surpassed 3 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, closing at 3.01 million in August. In the pre-salt region, the monthly operated output reached the record mark of 859,000 barrels per day that month. These results underpin both our leadership in technology for deep and ultradeep waters, and the expectations concerning the high potential of the pre-salt production. Additionally, this record output demonstrated the quality of the reservoirs and these projects' technical and economic feasibility.

To our CEO, Aldemir Bendine, 'when turning 62, the company remains a symbol of the Brazilian people's immense capacity for achievement and overcoming. This special condition would not have been achieved without the employees' dedication and commitment throughout this period. We are going through a time of challenges, but also of great learning. To us, on the company's board, it is inspiring to see the daily work of everyone who is part of Petrobras, with a mission to make the company increasingly solid and transparent, to move forward sustainably in a tough scenario for the entire oil industry. With each person's competence and commitment, I have no doubt we will overcome obstacles and achieve our goals,' he concludes.

Parallel to the efforts made to increase output, we have adopted a series of compliance measures, especially in our relationship with our suppliers. In order to update their records with us, all suppliers must provide detailed information on their structure, finances, and compliance mechanisms and on how they combat fraud and corruption, among other things, and are evaluated through the process known as Due Diligence of Integrity. The goal is to increase safety in the procurement of goods and services and to mitigate risks related to fraud and corrupt practices. Only suppliers who demonstrate integrity and adopt compliance measures will be kept in our reference file and can take part in bidding processes.
We have also adopted a number of initiatives to enhance our internal controls. One of the guiding principles of these changes is the limitation of individual decisions at all levels of the company, promoting joint decisions. Another measure is the creation of two new committees (Strategic and Financial), in addition to the three that already existed (Audit, Security, Environment and Health, and Compensation and Succession), to advise the Board of Directors in assessing issues, making a deeper analysis of all matters submitted to it. All projects prepared and approved here now also have to undergo the assessment of a matrix that takes into account possible risks, including from the control and transparency standpoint.

Award-winning technologies

Last year, we stood out for the technological solutions that ensured gains in productivity. Ten technological innovations for the pre-salt were awarded in 2015 by the committee of the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC), the oil industry's most important event. One of them was the riser support buoy, a piece of equipment made of steel that is submerged in the sea at a depth of 250 meters and interconnects pipelines installed in the oil wells to vessel platforms, preventing platform movement from being transferred to the risers. This technology reduces the effort on the pipes and increases the equipment's useful life. The novelty, in use at the Sapinhoá field, in the Santos Basin pre-salt cluster, has afforded considerable gains in output.

History

Our creation was directly related to the popular movement of the early 1950s dubbed 'The oil is ours.' The slogan took to the streets and broke away from the discourse of the time, that only major international consortia would be able to put an oil industry together in Brazil. With popular support, the strength of the campaign was addressed by Act 2004. Approved by Congress and signed into law by then President Getúlio Vargas, on October 3, 1953, the act gave rise to Petróleo Brasileiro S/A - Petrobras. From that date, the new company took over not only oil research, exploration, and refining, but also oil product marketing in Brazil.

The company was created in 1953, but its installation was only completed in 1954, when it inherited two refineries from the National Petroleum Council (which at the time oversaw the industry's activities in Brazil): the Mataripe (state of Bahia) and Cubatão (state of São Paulo) refineries. On May 10, 1954, we went on to operate with an output of 2,663 barrels of oil per day, equivalent to 1.7 percent of domestic consumption.

More than six decades later, we stand as the world's biggest operator in deep waters, and our oil and gas discoveries in the pre-salt opened a new exploratory frontier in the industry, with the potential to rank Brazil among the countries with the largest oil and gas reserves.

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