Fuel crisis: Petrobras oil profits down 20%

Company also imports gasoline and sells it at a subsidised price as set by the Brazilian government

SAO PAULO: Second-quarter profits for Brazil’s Petrobras dropped 20% compared to the same period one year earlier, the state-run oil giant said. Petrobras recorded profits of 4.96 billion reais (about $2.22 billion) in the quarter, the company said late Friday, compared to 6.2 billion reais (nearly $3 billion) for the same period in 2013. CEO Graca Foster said that the slump in profits was due to an 800 million reais drop in revenue as well as an increase in federal taxes. The company also imports gasoline – its local refineries cannot meet the domestic demand – and sells it at a subsidised price as set by the Brazilian government. Income from sales, however, stood at $36.9 billion, up 12% compared to the same period last year. Only counting crude and liquefied natural gas production, Petrobras had an average production of 1,972 barrels per day in the second quarter, up from 1,931 barrels per day a year earlier.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 10^th, 2014.

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