August oil and natural gas output at Petrobras fell 1.42% from July after a sale of assets in Argentina slashed the company's international output.

Petrobras produced an average of 2.84 million barrels of oil and equivalent natural gas (MMboe) in August, which was its lowest output in three months compared with 2.89 MMboe/d in July, the company said on Sept. 12. Production was little changed from a year earlier, rising 0.08%.

Petrobras concluded the sale of its 67% stake in Petrobras Argentina SA to Argentina's Pampa Energia SA in May.

The sale of the Argentina operation helped bolster a $15 billion asset sale plan aimed at reducing Petrobras' nearly $125 billion in debt, but it also cut oil output in South America outside Brazil by 80% in August to 5,900 bbl/d from 29,900 bbl/d in July.

With the Argentina operation sale, Petrobras' South American natural gas output fell 47% to 7.09 million cubic meters a day, or 1,181 bb/d.

Petrobras is refocusing its activities on Brazil and should be able to replace the lost Argentina production over the next several years, Solange Guedes, head of E&P at Petrobras, said during a conference call with journalists on Sept. 12.