Brazilian major Petrobras has been focused on improving the efficiency of its producing assets in the deepwater Campos Basin for several years via its strategic PROEF (Petrobras Operational Efficiency Improvement Program), with the operator’s latest figures indicating it achieved its best ever performance during the months of March and April.

The company’s Campos Basin Operational Unit reached 80.6% efficiency in April, it said, while the Rio de Janeiro Operational Unit, which manages the platforms with the largest production capacity in the same basin, achieved 96.2% efficiency in March—the best operational efficiency rate within the last three years.

In March, the Rio de Janeiro operational unit produced 844,000 bbl/d of oil, using 96.2% of its capacity, up from 93% in February. The unit’s all-time record efficiency is 96.4%, which it hit in December 2010.

In the Campos Basin operational unit, the 80.6% efficiency rate achieved in April was the best achieved over the last 46 months. This is the first time the rate has returned to more than 80%, evidence that the initiatives implemented by Petrobras to improve its operational process are working.

PROEF was implemented in November 2012 and consists of 13 initiatives, selected internally as areas for improvement and sustainability actions in the production of oil and gas. The aim is to slow the inevitable trend of declining output from the continued development of existing reservoirs and the operational performance of equipment.