Norwegian oil and gas firm Statoil aims to more than triple its production in Brazil and will seek to become operator for the entire Carcara discovery, among the world's biggest in recent years, the firm's country manager said.

Statoil has invested more than $10 billion in Brazil, making it the country's largest foreign offshore operator, and the Peregrino heavy oil field 85 kilometres off the coast of Rio de Janeiro is the biggest it operates outside Norway.

With Peregrino producing 80,000-90,000 barrels of oil equivalents per day, Statoil's 60 percent equity stake in the field currently leaves the company with 48,000-54,000 barrels in daily output from the South American country.

"We expect (Statoil's) equity production to more than triple in Brazil going towards 2030," Anders Opedal, Statoil's head of Brazilian operations, told Reuters in an interview.


(Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis)