Brazil’s state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro posted its third-straight quarterly loss on Thursday as oil prices and production fell and a weaker currency boosted debt costs.
The result missed analyst expectations of a profit.
The consolidated net loss at Petrobras, as the company is known, was 1.25bn reais ($358mn) in the three months ending March 31, compared with a profit of 5.33bn reais a year earlier, the Rio de Janeiro-based company said in a securities filing.
The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Reuters was for a profit of 3.64bn reais.
Petrobras has struggled mightily with a plunge in world oil prices and its role at the centre of a massive corruption scandal. It is saddled the oil industry’s largest debt and has also been hurt by falling domestic demand due to Brazil’s worst recession since the 1930s.
Petrobras’ net revenue, or total sales minus sales taxes, fell 5.4% to 70.3bn reais. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, a measure of operating profit, fell 2% to 21.1bn reais.
Adjusted EBITDA adds up EBITDA plus participation in investments, impairment and charges for improper capitalization, according to the Petrobras statement.