RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 4 - Brazil's Petrobras beat second quarter profit estimates on Wednesday as higher Brent prices, strong natural gas sales and relatively controlled expenses boosted the company's bottom line.
In an evening securities filing, Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as the company is formally known, reported a quarterly net income of 42.855 billion reais with a loss in the same period last year and well above the Refinitiv consensus estimate of 30.7 billion reais.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, came in at 61.94 billion reais, up about 148% from the second quarter of 2020 - which was severely hit by COVID lockdowns - and above the Refinitive consensus estimate of 51.7 billion reais.
In comments accompanying the results, Petrobras attributed the beat to a number of factors, including strong domestic and international sales volumes and a 13% increase in Brent prices from the previous quarter.
The revenue from natural gas sales jumped in quarterly terms to 7.01 billion reais, as demand was boosted by a nationwide drought which severely limited the availability of hydropower.
A 12.2% appreciation of the Brazilian real against the dollar in quarterly terms also boosted results, Petrobras said.
Operational expenses dropped 9.1% in quarterly terms, which the company attributed to reduced costs incurred by contractors and a significant tax adjustment that effectively allowed Petrobras to avoid hundreds of millions of reais worth of double taxation.