By Marta Nogueira
RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Rising output fromBrazil's sub-salt offshore oil fields is allowing state oilcompany Petrobras to export record volumes of oil andimport less light crude for its refineries, a senior executivesaid.
Cláudio Mastella, executive manager for refining and naturalgas logistics, said the move is helping to reduce Petrobras'operational and logistical costs because lighter oil is easierand cheaper to refine into products like gasoline and diesel.
Rising output from sub-salt, an area off the coast of Rio deJaneiro which has lighter oil than the Brazilian average, helpedBrazil cut its crude imports to the lowest level since the 1990slast year while exports set a record in January.
Brazil's sub-salt production rose to 1.26 million barrelsper day (bpd) in December, equivalent to 46 percent of thecountry's total output - up from 34 percent a year earlier.
Mastella said that as a result the percentage of Brazilianoil used in Petrobras' refineries had reached 91 percent, up 10percentage points over the past five years.
"The properties of the oil from the sub-salt encourages bothits use in Petrobras' refineries in Brazil and for exports, asit has a higher commercial value," Mastella said in an emailedresponse to questions.
Brazilian imports fell to their lowest level in 19 years in2016, data from the Trade Ministry showed this month.
Crude imports fell to roughly 65 million barrels in 2016,nearly half of their 2015 level, the data showed.
Part of that was due to a 4.5 percent fall in domestic fuelconsumption amid Brazil's worst recession on record.
Meanwhile, rising sub-salt production helped Brazilsignificantly increase exports.
The Paris-based International Energy Agency expects Brazil’s2017 output to rise 230,000 bpd on the year to 2.84 million bpd.
While Petrobras has forecast its output will slip by 3.5percent this year to around 2.07 million bpd due to delays inprojects coming online, that should be compensated by risingoutput from other producers.
The government does not produce a forecast for annual oiloutput.
Figures from energy regulator ANP showed that oil exportsfrom Brazil set a monthly record in January of roughly 1.26million bpd.
Reuters Trade Flows data showed that total shipments ofBrazilian crude - including barrels shipped from the Uruguayanshore - averaged 1.3 million bpd since August, versus 1 millionbpd in the first half of 2016.
The Reuters Trade Flows data showed Petrobras and otherBrazil producers - including Royal Dutch Shell, Repsol, Petrogal and PetroChina - arecompeting more aggressively to gain export market share in theU.S. East Coast, China, India, Malaysia, Singapore and Spain. (Reporting by Marta Nogueira in Rio de Janeiro; Additionalreporting by Marianna Parraga in Houston; Writing by StephenEisenhammer; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Leslie Adler)