Rio de Janeiro – Brazilian state-run firm Petrobras reported a fourth-quarter net income of BRL 59.9 billion (USD 11.1 billion) on Wednesday (25), a significant boost from the first nine months of 2020, when the company suffered the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, the company posted a net income of BRL 7.1 billion (USD 1.3 billion) in 2020.
The figure is down 82.3% from 2019’s, when Petrobras saw its better income ever at BRL 40.1 billion (USD 7.4). “We managed to overcome an extremely challenging situation ushered in by the pandemic and a severe impact on the global oil industry,” Petrobras chief executive Roberto Castello Branco (pictured above) told the press.
Last Friday (19), Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro guaranteed the departure of Castello Branco and appointed General Joaquim Silva e Luna to take the office. Petrobras shares slumped after the announcement. Petrobras did not comment on the drama.
Castello Branco said Petrobras was the only major oil company to reduce itsdebt. “Our free cash flow was the highest of all oil companies. We were also the only major oil firm to reduce the debt.” The total debt declined from USD 87.1 billion in late 2019 to USD 75.5 billion in 2020.
Castello Branco also highlighted the results of the privatization strategy that have been going on since early 2019. The company said the goal is to reallocate resources of low-return assets to high-return assets, as well as reducing debt and risk. There’re currently 50 assets on sale at different stages.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
