Rio De Janeiro — Brazilian state-run oil firm Petrobras has lowered its dividend forecast and cut expected investments by almost 2% in a new five-year business plan announced Thursday, as it grapples with lower crude prices.
Petrobras expects to dole out between $45 billion and $50 billion during the 2026-2030 period in ordinary dividends, a filing showed. In its previous five-year plan to 2029, released last year, the firm had expected to give shareholders up to $55 billion.
There was no mention of extraordinary dividends in the new plan, while the previous one estimated up to $10 billion could be disbursed during the 2025-2029 period.
The cut in investments to $109 billion comes as Petrobras faces lower Brent oil prices, that it now expects to hover around $63 a barrel for next year, below the $77 estimate it had set for 2026 in the previous plan.
This marks the first drop in investments of the state-run firm under President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s current administration.
The last time investment was cut was the 2021-2025 plan, under former President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration, when Petrobras was undergoing a series of divestments.
Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing sources, that Petrobras’ expected investments were set to drop to around $109 billion in the new plan.
Since taking office, Lula has pushed the oil firm to invest more in order to boost the country’s economy. Next year, the leftist leader is set to seek a fourth, non-consecutive term as president.
Despite lowering investments overall, Petrobras raised investments in exploration and production activities by about $1 billion to $78 billion for the period, while keeping refining, transportation and marketing investments at around $20 billion.
Petrobras also said it expects to reach peak oil production within the period of 2.7 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2028.
Peak total production within the plan’s timeframe would be 3.4 million barrels of oil and gas equivalent per day (boed) in 2028 and 2029, based on annual projections with a margin of variation of plus or minus 4%.
Reporting by Fabio Teixeira and Rodrigo Viga Gaier in Rio de Janeiro; Editing by Natalia Siniawski and Kevin Buckland – Reuters
