State-owned Brazilian oil company Petrobras has unveiled a five-year investment plan of $224.7 billion for the 2011-2015 period, up slightly from the previous 2010-2014 proposal, according to a company statement.
The board of director, presided over by Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega, approved the business plan late Friday after reportedly rejecting two previous proposals, as it called on the company to rein in spending.
The first two investment plans had been for $260 billion and $230 billion, before the board signed off on the projected outlays.
The final proposal seeks to achieve a "more efficient management of company assets and profitability," said Petrobras in a statement.
It sets the goal for Brazil's oil and gas production for 2011 at 2.1 million barrels of oil per day (bpd) and 434,000 barrels of gas, while estimating an increase in production in 2015 for up to 3.07 million bpd, and of 4.9 million bpd by 2020.
Last year the state oil company made a record net profit of $20 billion dollars, a 17 per cent increase from 2009 due to increased production and higher oil prices.
Projections have also been raised due to recent discoveries of oil and natural gas claimed by Petrobras.
In June it said it had discovered up to 700 million barrels of oil and natural gas in the Gulf of Mexico, and would share the spoils with Exxon Mobil.
At the time it called the oil fields "one of the greatest discoveries in the Gulf of Mexico in the last decade," and spurred interest in the company's capacity to grow after several years investing in deep water drilling technology.
It received permission in March from the United States to begin deep water oil and natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico.