Petrobras closed with a record market value of R$700.08 billion after its shares rose sharply on the B3 exchange, but two forces were at work: a broadly stronger Brazilian market and renewed expectations for exploration off the coast of Amapá.¹

The company’s preferred shares gained 2.81% and its ordinary shares climbed 3.25%, as the Ibovespa rose 2.63%. The wider advance followed U.S. labour-market data and diminished expectations of further increases in U.S. interest rates, suggesting Petrobras benefited from improving market sentiment as well as its own news.¹

The company, however, gave investors a separate reason to focus on its longer-term outlook. Petrobras reported another oil-bearing interval in the Morpho well, in the FZA-M-59 block of the Foz do Amazonas Basin. The well lies in ultra-deep water, about 175 kilometres from Oiapoque and nearly 500 kilometres from the mouth of the Amazon River. Laboratory analysis and integration of the new data are still under way.¹

For Petrobras, the discovery strengthens the case for the Equatorial Margin as a new exploration frontier as it seeks to replenish oil and gas reserves and meet Brazilian energy demand. Production has already risen from roughly 2.5 million barrels a day in the first quarter to close to 3 million barrels a day in September, according to company data cited in the report.¹

President Magda Chambriard said two oil-bearing layers had been identified at different depths and that drilling was expected to finish by late October. “We are increasing the value of these exploratory areas for Petrobras. Amapá is becoming more valuable every day,” she said.¹ The market’s record valuation reflects that optimism, although the commercial significance of the latest interval will depend on the pending analysis.