The Brazilian national oil and gas company Petrobras has released its 2019 results, posting a 9.5% decrease in net revenues to US$76.6bn, mostly due to the fall of average oil prices from US$71/bbl in 2018 to US$64/bbl in 2019. However, EBITDA increased by 3.8% to US$32.7bn and net income by 41.5% to US$10.2bn, mainly as a result of capital gains on divestments in its wholly-owned gas pipeline unit TAG (Transportadora Associada de Gás) and E&P assets. Gross debt fell by nearly 25% to US$63bn at the end of 2019 thanks to the inflow of divestment resources.
In 2019, the state-owned company experienced a 5.4% increase in its global hydrocarbon production, to an average of 2,770 kboe/d. Crude oil production in Brazil rose by 6.7% to an average of 2,172 kb/d, spurred by a 28.5% surge in pre-salt production (up to 1,277 kb/d) that offset a decline in oil production from post-salt areas (-14% to 704 kb/d), onshore areas (-8.1% to 124 kb/d) and shallow waters (-27% to 66 kb/d). Gas production in Brazil rose by 4.9% to 516 kboe/d on average in 2019, while oil and gas production outside Brazil contracted by 19% to 82 kboe/d. In the refining segment, the refinery utilisation factor slightly progressed (from 76% to 77%) and production grew by 0.8% to 1,779 kb/d. Sales declined by 2.9% to 1,754 kb/d, due to a higher market share of importers. Petrobras' gas imports fell by 19% to 18 mcm/d and its sales of gas dipped by 1.4% tp 75 mcm/d. At the end of 2019, Petrobras held 9,590 mboe in proven reserves (SEC criterion), not including reserves from the Itapu and Búzios assets acquired in the Transfer of Rights Surplus auction in November 2019; the R/P ratio averaged 10.5 years in 2019.
In April 2019, Petrobras agreed to sell a 90% stake in TAG to a consortium of the French energy group Engie and the Canadian pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec for a total consideration of US$8.6bn. The transaction price includes US$800m to pay TAG’s debt to Brazil National Development Bank (BNDES).