History
Petrobras was created in 1953 during the government of Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas, with the support of both the ruling parties and the opposition alike in Congress.
Petrobras commenced its activities with the collection it inherited from the old National Oil Council (Conselho Nacional do Petróleo, CNP), which, however, preserved its inspection function for the sector.
The oil exploration and production operations, as well as the remaining activities connected to the oil, natural gas, and derivative sector, except for wholesale distribution and retail via service stations, were a monopoly Petrobras held from 1954 to 1997. During this period, Petrobras became the leader in derivative marketing in Brazil, and, thanks to the company’s performance, it was awarded the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in 1992, one which it was granted again in 2001.
After 40 years of exploration, production, refining and transportation of Brazil's oil, Petrobras started to compete with other foreign and domestic companies in 1997. The Brazilian government created the National Petroleum Agency (Agência Nacional do Petróleo, ANP), responsible for the regulation and supervision of activities in the petroleum industry, and the National Council of Energy Policies, a public agency responsible for the development of public energy policy.
In 2003, commemorating its 50 years, Petrobras doubled its daily production of oil and natural gas, surpassing the mark of 2 million barrels (320,000 m3).
On 21 April 2006, Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva started production on the P-50 oil platform, in the Albacora East Field at Campos Basin, which gave Brazil self-sufficiency in oil production.
In 2009, Petrobras announced a market capitalization plan to finance its future investments in ultra-deep oil exploration. The share offering in the BM&F Bovespa Stock Exchange took place in September 2010, becoming the largest market capitalization in history, with R$ 120,4 billion (US$ 69,97 billion) in shares issued.
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