Petrobras Dodges a Bullet

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By Paul Ausick Updated Published
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In a press announcement released after markets closed on Tuesday, Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (NYSE: PBR), aka Petrobras, said it had reached an agreement with its creditors regarding the release of its third-quarter 2014 financial statements to the external auditor. The state-controlled oil company faced an acceleration of loan repayments totaling some $53.6 billion for failing to release the financial statement by December 29. At the end of June 2014, Petrobras reported total long-term debt of $129 billion.

Petrobras has delayed the financial report twice as it tries to deal with corruption and money-laundering charges involving construction contracts worth a reported $22 billion. Some 30 people are being investigated.

The company has said it will disclose its third-quarter financial statements during the month of January, but the statements would not be examined by the external auditor.

In another statement released Tuesday, the company said that the break-even price the company planned on when it approved the pre-salt production projects was “around $45 per barrel,” which includes taxes but not natural gas transportation infrastructure. Adding spending on for natural gas transportation raises the cost by $5 to $7 per barrel.

The company also said its break-even price assumes well flows of 15,000 to 25,000 barrels per day with the current average for pre-salt wells at 20,000 barrels per day.

Since posting a high of over $72 a share in May 2008, shares have fallen nearly 92% to close on Tuesday at $6.02 after posting a 52-week low of $5.79 earlier in the day. The 52-week high on the shares is $20.94. Average daily volume is more than 48 million shares traded.

The stock traded up more than 2% Wednesday morning at $6.15 on the news of the agreement.

ALSO READ: Why Ratings Agencies Would Be Worried About Petrobras

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About the Author Paul Ausick →

Paul Ausick has been writing for a673b.bigscoots-temp.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.

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