Brazil May oil output down 2.4 pct to 1.54 mln bpd

Reuters, 06.17.03, 1:29 PM ET RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, June 17 (Reuters) - Brazil's crude output fell 2.4 percent to 1.538 million barrels per day in May from the previous month due to maintenance work on a a rig on the important Marlim field, state oil giant Petrobras said on Tuesday. Petroleo Brasileiro, or Petrobras <PETR4.SA> (nyse: PBR - news - people), the only oil producer in Latin America's biggest country, said in a statement its natural gas output at home totaled 37.1 million cubic meters per day (mcmd), down from 38.4 mcmd in April. Combined domestic output of crude and natural gas in oil equivalent fell 2.5 percent to 1.77 million bpd. But the company's foreign oil output jumped to 159,316 bpd from April's 39,943 bpd, and natural gas production soared to 14.5 mcmd from 5.2 mcmd, after the purchase of a controlling stake in Argentina's Perez Companc was approved by regulators, allowing Petrobras to count Perez' output as its own. Petrobras produces oil or gas in Angola, Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia and the United States. Apart from Argentina and Brazil, Perez Companc also has operations in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Venezuela. Petrobras' overall output of oil and gas at home and abroad totaled 2.015 million bpd last month, which compares to the average first quarter output of 2.043 million bpd, already taking into account the Perez Companc acquisition. Royal Dutch Shell <RD.AS> <SHEL.L> should become Brazil's first foreign oil producer next month or in August, and a range of other companies are in the exploration phase.