MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Petrobras expects to lower costs and increase earnings in coming quarters

Operating costs for Brazil's state oil company Petrobras will be lower in the coming quarters Chief Financial Officer Almir Barbassa told financial newspaper Valor Economico in an interview published on Monday.

Barbassa said the increased exploration, extraction and refining costs over the quarter were part of natural growing pains that any expanding company could expect.

He added that the company moved ahead the stoppage of some of its off-shore production platforms for maintenance, which contributed to raising average costs.

Analysts at Credit Suisse Group and BTG Pactual were concerned over the sharp rise in refining, lifting and administrative costs for Petrobras in its second-quarter earnings, which were released on Aug. 15.

“We also didn't deliver our goal of production, which did not grow as expected. This added to costs” Barbassa said. “But the platforms have returned or are now returning to production, and it's expected that costs will fall from here out.”

Petrobras has been contracting new workers to staff its growing operations over the massive deep-water reserves discovered off Brazil in recent years, after several years of reduction or limited growth in payroll, he said.

A company spokesman said Barbassa's statements published in the paper were accurate.