🛢️ Crude awakening

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How oil dethroned soybeans as Brazil's top 2024 export

For the first time ever, Brazil exported more than half of its oil production in 2024, with crude surpassing soybeans as the country's top export — something unseen in over a decade.

The value of Brazil’s crude oil exports rose 5% last year, reaching USD 44.9 billion, while exported volumes climbed 10%. That surge pushed the country’s oil exports to 52.1% of total production — up from 23% a decade ago, according to the Oil, Natural Gas and Biofuel Strategic Studies Institute (Ineep), a think tank with ties to oil workers’ unions.

Over the past decade, Brazilian oil production has grown nearly 50%, driven by deep-water pre-salt reserves, where drilling began in 2008. The expansion led to surplus supply that has increasingly been sold abroad, said Ticiana Alvares, Ineep’s technical director.

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