Brazil's state-run oil company, Petrobras, announced on August 12 record net profits for the second quarter of 2008, up 29% over the same period last year. The oil company said earnings rose to 8.7 billion reals (about US$5.4 billion), compared to 6.8 billion reals in 2007.
The company attributed its strong performance to the rising price of the crude and fuel it sells in Brazil and abroad. The results followed "a significant rise in the price of oil on the international markets, gains in the production of crude and gas, the increase in prices related to the rise of gasoline and diesel last May and an increase in the total volume of sales," said Petrobras president Jose Sergio Gabrielli.
The gross profits, which exclude payment of interest or taxes, increased by 27% to 18.1 billion reals in the second quarter, compared to 14.2 billion last year.
New facilities installed last year in Rio de Janeiro and Vitoria helped boost production. The total production of oil and natural gas reached 2.38 million barrels per day in the second quarter, a 4% jump from the same period in 2007.
Brazilian production rose 2% in the second quarter to 1.85 million barrels per day. But international production fell by 4% to 104 million barrels.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2008
