In the second quarter of 2025, Petrobras recorded the worst performance among the world’s largest oil and gas companies, with a loss of 2.6 billion reais ($344 million). The survey is from the newspaper Poder360.
In addition to Petrobras. British Petroleum BP also posted a smaller loss of $129 million. Saudi Aramco, on the other hand, came in first with $116 billion in revenue and $29 billion in profit, followed by Exxon Mobil with $9.2 billion and Shell with $6.3 billion.
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Only Aramco and ExxonMobil increased their earnings compared to the first quarter of 2024. The decline in the value of oil and lower sales of petroleum products were cited as reasons for the decline in profits of Petrobras and other companies.
TotalEnergies saw its profits fall from $5.4 billion to $3.8 billion, while Equinor saw its profits fall from $2.7 billion to $1.9 billion.
In addition to global factors, Petrobras faced internal challenges. The loss of US$344 million was the worst in nearly four years. However, revenues grew 7.4% compared to the same period in 2023, to R$122 billion ($23.4 billion), despite lower fuel sales.
Petrobras increased operating expenses.
Petrobras’ operating expenses rose 69.9% in one year, totaling R$26.5 billion. The closure agreement at the Administrative Council of Tax Appeals (Carf) added R$19.8 billion in expenses, with an initial payment of R$3.57 billion in June and six monthly installments of R$1.38 billion in July to December.
Another R$6.65 billion was paid through judicial deposits, and R$1.29 billion came from tax exemptions. CFO Fernando Melgarejo highlighted the exchange rate change and the tax treatment compliance as events that affected the accounting result, but not the company’s cash flow. Without these events, Petrobras would have recorded a net profit of US$5.4 billion.
President Magda Chambrillard said that cash generation increased and debt remained under control. She explained that “non-recurring events, such as the tax agreement with the Ministry of Finance and the exchange rate fluctuation, without any impact on the company’s cash or equity, affected internal accounting, and also affected the results of the quarter.”
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