MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Petrobras in the “premier” league.

The Brazilian petroleum consortium Petrobras figures among the twelve most profitable companies in the Americas according to Economática a Miami based business consulting company.

The rating is based on the results of the third quarter from a list of a thousand US companies and 900 from Latinamerican with shares in stock markets of Mexico, Peru, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina and United States.

Only thirty companies from the list managed net profits of over a billion US dollars in the third Q (July September).

The exclusive list is headed by Citigroup with 4,691 billion US dollars followed by Exxon-Mobil 3,650 billion; General Electric, 3,649 billion; Bank of America 2,922 billion, and Petrobras figures twelfth with 1,848 billion US dollars.

Two other Brazilian companies figure among the top hundred profit making: Vale do Rio Doce (steel) (68) with 437 million US dollars and Electrobras (93) (public utility) with 323 million US dollars.

Other Latinamerican companies among the top hundred include Telmex (60) (telephone and satellites from Mexico) 484 million US dollars and Repsol-YPF (78) (oil) with 396 million US dollars.

Petrobras' excellent showing is explained by its dominating position in the Brazilian fuel market and the higher international oil barrel price. Petrobras that has a virtual monopoly of the domestic market sells gasoline 10% above international price. Besides during the third Q. the Brazilian consortium expanded its production of oil and natural gas.

Nevertheless Petrobras figures above other US giants such as IBM with profits of 1,785 billion US dollars; Procter & Gamble 1,761 billion; UnitedGlobalCom 1,737 billion and Intel with 1,657 billion US dollars.