12 seconds ago 2009-11-23T03:00:02-08:00
SAO PAULO (AFP) – Lower oil prices contributed to a 1.48-billion-dollar cut in third-quarter profits for Petrobras, the Brazilian state-controlled energy company said late on Friday.
Petrobras saw July-September profits slide to 7.3 billion reais (4.2 billion dollars) from 9.8 billion reais (5.7 billion dollars) for the same period last year, it said.
It blamed lower oil prices in the wake of the global financial crisis, as well as an extraordinary late payment it had to make for its participation in an offshore Brazilian oil field.
The profit slump came despite a slightly higher margin in oil output to 1.9 million barrels per day, five percent more than for the third quarter last year, and a four percent decrease in the cost of extraction, Petrobras said.
It exported an average of 724,000 barrels of oil per day, an increase of 10 percent that made it a net exporter of oil.