Petrobras will be paying higher dividends for the third quarter compared to the second quarter as production and earnings jumped sequentially, the Brazilian state-owned oil giant said.
Petrobras booked a net income of $6 billion for the third quarter, up by 2.7% on the year and a 27.3% jump on the quarter, despite the decline in oil prices.
Higher production and start-ups of new fields helped the Brazilian giant cushion the impact of the more than $10 per barrel decline in oil prices.
Oil production from the Buzios field hit a record high of more than 1 million barrels per day (bpd) in October, Petrobras said.
Oil, NGL, and natural gas production averaged 3.14 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed) in the third quarter, up by 8% compared to the previous quarter. The growth was mainly attributed to the peak production to design capacity achieved by FPSO Almirante Tamandaré in the Búzios field, as well as the increased production capacity of FPSO Marechal Duque de Caxias in the Mero field.
“Petrobras is delivering positive financial results and returns to its shareholders, despite the new oil price level. Over the last twelve months, Brent prices have fallen by $11 per barrel, and we have managed to offset this impact on revenue by increasing our oil production to over 2.5 million barrels per day, setting several operational records,” chief financial officer Fernando Melgarejo said.
The company’s board of directors approved the payment of interim dividends of a total of $2.27 billion (12.16 billion Brazilian reals) for Q3, slightly above analyst expectations and much higher than the $1.6 billion paid for the second quarter, when Petrobras disappointed investors with lower-than-expected shareholder payouts.
In the third quarter, Petrobras also boasted a record-high level of oil exports as a result of higher output. Oil exports averaged a record-high of 814,000 barrels per day, as Brazil is a key contributor to the rising global supply out of non-OPEC+ producers.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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