Sao Paulo — Brazilian national oil company Petrobras posted a nearly 36% drop in its second-quarter profits on Thursday, citing falling crude prices, although earnings surpassed analyst expectations.
Latin America’s top oil producer posted recurring net profit of 28.8 billion reais ($5.85 billion), or 2.21 reais per share, while analysts polled by Refinitiv had expected 2.18 reais per share.
Petrobras blamed the smaller quarterly profit on lower international oil prices, in addition to a 40% decline in diesel crack spreads – the price difference between the key industrial motor fuel and crude oil – as well as higher operating expenses.
The company will pay a first installment to shareholders on Nov. 21, with the second one to be paid on Dec. 15.
Petrobras had previously warned of a possible dip in quarterly sales volume and posted slightly lower crude output for the April-to-May period. It reported overall revenue down by a third from a year earlier, to 113.8 billion reais.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for the period shrank 42% to reach 56.7 billion reais.
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