(Petrobras, 8.Aug.2024) — Petrobras had solid cash generation in the second quarter of 2024, reporting an Operating Cash Flow (OCF) of BRL47.2bn—higher than in the year’s first quarter. The OCF demonstrates the company’s capacity to generate resources from its regular operations, being a relevant index to assess a company’s performance. In the same period, Petrobras’s gross debts dropped roughly $2.2bn, the equivalent of 3.6% compared to the previous quarter, reaching $59.6bn. The financial debt decreased by roughly $1.4bn, the equivalent of 5.1%, to $26.3bn, the lowest level since 2008. The data are some of the highlights of the financial results in the second quarter of 2024, as reported this Thursday night (8/8).
“The operating results were solid and just as expected. Non-recurrent events, such as the tax agreement with the Brazilian Treasury Department (Ministério da Fazenda), which brought significant advantages to the company and the Federal Union, and the period’s substantial forex volatility, without any effect on the company’s cash or property, impacted the company’s books, also affecting the quarter’s revenue. We had relevant cash generation, which demonstrates how much value our operations can add. We recorded a controlled indebtedness level in alignment with our estimates in our Strategic Plan. With good cash flow and low debt, we are investing in our production of oil, gas, and byproducts to replenish reserves and effect the energy transition to ensure Petrobras’s sustainability in the long run. Our priority is to lay the groundwork for Petrobras to continue being, in the coming decades, just as or more relevant to Brazil than today’s Petrobras,” affirmed Magda Chambriard, Petrobras’s President.
The company recorded an adjusted EBITDA of BRL49.7bn. This indicator represents the earnings before paying interest and taxes and calculating depreciation and amortization. The period’s earnings without exclusive events were BRL28bn.
The company sustained a negative result of BRL2.6bn in the 2nd quarter of 2024 due to exclusive events that occurred in Q2 24, which affected the accounting result but left a residual effect on the cash. The primary item is Petrobras’s adherence, in June 2024, to the tax litigation notice, which enabled the termination of relevant legal disputes involving the chartering of vessels or platforms and their respective service-level agreements. The agreement brought predictability to the Company’s expenditure and prevented financial costs to maintain legal guarantees and other court expenses. The Real x Dollar forex fluctuation was also expressive in the last quarter (the Real depreciated 11.2% in Q2 24, compared to the 3.2% depreciation in Q1 24, for instance) and impacted the accounting results mainly because of obligation in dollars among companies of the Petrobras System, but without affecting the company’s cash. With a positive result, there was a reversal of the loss by impairment of Araucária Nitrogenados S.A. worth BRL201mn, reflecting the approval to reactivate the fertilizer factory.
Investments
Petrobras made significant results in the second quarter, amounting to $3.4bn, mainly focused on large pre-salt projects. In the first six months of the year, the investments amounted to $6.4bn, representing a 12.5% increase in contrast with the same period in the previous year.
Petrobras’s net revenue in Q2 24 increased by 4% compared to the previous quarter, indicating a 10% increase in oil exportation revenues favored by the Brent appreciation.
Petrobras’s operations continue to make a vital contribution to the Brazilian society. In the 2nd quarter of 2024, Petrobras paid BRL70bn worth of taxes to several Brazilian entities (the Federal Union, states, and cities)—24% more than in Q2 23. Furthermore, BRL14bn worth of dividends were paid out to the controlling group (the Federal Union), amounting to expressive BRL 84 billion, returning directly to society just for the second semester.
Operating Highlights
Petrobras achieved an average production of 2.7 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed) in Q2 24 in compliance with the Strategic Plan for 2024 – 2028+. Of this volume, 81% comes from the pre-salt layer.
The FPSO Marechal Duque de Caxias arrived in Brazil and had its anchoring in the Mero field, in the Santos Basin’s pre-salt layer, completed in the last quarter. The platform, which will be the field’s third definitive production system, is scheduled for startup in this year’s second semester. The FPSO Maria Quitéria moved up its startup to the last quarter of 2024. The platform arrived in Brazil. The FPSO will operate in the Jubarte field, lying in the Campos Basin’s pre-salt layer, on the coast of Espírito Santo, and has decarbonization technologies such as the combined energy generation cycle and Flare Gas Recovery Unit – FGRU (closed flare).
During that period, contracts were signed to build the All-Electric FPSOs P-84 in Atapu and P-85 in Sépia, with the capacity to produce 225 thousand barrels of oil per day.
The refining park’s total utilization factor (FUT) stood at a high level of 91% in Q2 24, even when considering the planned downtimes in many refineries (Replan, Reduc, Recap, Revap, and Regap). The participation of the pre-salt oil in the refineries’ loads reached a record quarterly rate of 69%, enabling the production of oil byproducts with higher added value and lower emissions.
In Q2 24, natural gas supply contracts were signed and amended with an approximate volume of 940 thousand m³/d in the free consumer category. Supply contracts with six distributors were also amended to include the mechanism of bonus per performance with a price reduction according to the clients’ higher consumption, a mechanism created to make Petrobras more competitive in relation to the competition.
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