Brazil energy production rises

Brazil's oil production rose more than 5 percent in October, while natural-gas production increased more than 3 percent, the state-owned oil company said. Petroleo Brasileiro (Petrobras) said oil production reached 1.94 million barrels per day (bpd) in October, a 5.3 percent increase from the previous month. Natural-gas production hit 2.2 trillion cubic feet last month, a 3.5 percent gain from September. 'This result was mainly due to the return to operations of other platforms that were under maintenance in September and to the start-up of floating production, storage, and offloading [in a basin off] the coast of the Espirito Santo state,' Petrobras said in a statement. Brazil ranks second behind Venezuela in proven oil reserves in South America. The vast majority of its reserves are offshore.