MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Petrobras profits soar thirty fold in the second quarter helped by rising oil prices

Other factors contributing to profit increase included depreciation of the Brazilian currency, lower interest expenses and lower general and administrative expenses

Brazil’s Petrobras benefited from the rising oil prices and booked a thirty-fold yearly jump in its second-quarter net income, which also beat analyst expectations.

 The state run company said on Friday that its Q2 net income surged to US$2.68 billion from US$84 million in the second quarter of 2017, helped by rising Brent prices, which resulted in higher margins in oil exports and oil product sales in Brazil.

Other factors that contributed to the thirty-fold profit increase included the depreciation of the Brazilian currency, lower interest expenses due to debt reduction, and lower general and administrative expenses and equipment idleness.

The profit jump was also well ahead of analysts estimates for US$1.505 billion in Q2.

For Q1 2018, Petrobras had posted what was then its highest quarterly profit since the beginning of 2013 on the back of higher oil prices and proceeds from asset sales.

For the first half of 2018, Petrobras also saw soaring profits, at US$4.54 billion, the net income was 257% higher compared to the first half of 2017, and the best first-half performance since 2011.

The heavily indebted company also cut more of its debt in the first half of 2018. Petrobras’s net debt stood at US$73.662 billion at end-June, down by 13% compared to the end of December last year.

The results come just two months after Petrobras chief executive Pedro Parente, who helped turn around the company after the huge corruption scandal, resigned in early June. The resignation came after nationwide trucker strikes forced the government to cut diesel prices and after oil workers demanded that Brazil end the one-year-old policy to allow fuel prices to be dictated by the market and international crude oil benchmarks.