Energy · Profile from Energy Research Companion
Petrobras
Brazil's state-controlled oil company, created by law in October 1953 on the slogan "o petróleo é nosso" ("the oil is ours"), which spent its first two decades failing to find much oil onshore, moved offshore in the 1970s, became the world's leading deepwater operator, and in 2006–07 found the giant pre-salt fields beneath ~2 km of salt off Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Those fields are among the lowest-cost deepwater barrels anywhere (company-reported lifting costs in single-digit dollars per barrel of oil equivalent and breakevens around ~$25–35/bbl Brent for new projects, company claims). They also made Petrobras the instrument of every Brazilian government's ambitions: a record ~$70bn share offering in 2010, a construction programme that the Lava Jato ("Car Wash") investigation exposed from 2014 as the centre of one of the largest corruption schemes ever prosecuted, fuel-price controls that cost it tens of billions of dollars, and a debt load that peaked above $130bn. By the second quarter of 2026 it was producing a record ~3.34 million boe/d (company), earning windfalls from the 2026 Gulf crisis, and drilling its first well at the mouth of the Amazon. Its story turns on one question: whose company is it — the state's or its minority shareholders'?
At a glance
- Founded
- 3 October 1953, by Law 2,004 signed by President Getúlio Vargas, as Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. with a monopoly on exploration, production and refining in Brazil
- Headquarters
- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Ownership / structure
- Mixed-capital company (sociedade de economia mista). The federal government and its entities (BNDES, BNDESPar, Caixa) hold a majority of voting (ordinary) shares and roughly a third or more of total capital (verify current split); the rest trade on B3 (PETR3 ordinary, PETR4 preferred) and as ADRs on the NYSE (PBR, PBR.A) since 2000
- Leadership (2026)
- Magda Chambriard (CEO since May 2024; former director-general of the regulator ANP); board chaired by a government nominee; the CEO and most directors are appointed by the government of the day
- Segments
- Exploration and production (pre-salt Santos and Campos basins: Tupi/Lula, Búzios, Mero, Sépia, Atapu, Itapu; post-salt Campos Basin; onshore largely sold); refining, transport and marketing (~1.9 mb/d of refined products in Q2 2026, company); gas and low-carbon (gas processing, thermal plants, nascent wind, biorefining)
- Scale
- Total output ~3.34m boe/d in Q2 2026, a record; company-operated oil in Brazil ~2.7m bbl/d, ~15% above a year earlier (company, Aug 2026). Net income R$52.4bn (~$10bn) in Q2 2026, up ~97% year on year; gross debt ~$70.8bn, under a $75bn ceiling (company)
- Reserves
- Proved reserves (SEC basis) of roughly 11bn boe at end-2024 (company, verify end-2025 figure); the pre-salt holds most of them
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Founding and the monopoly (1953); Tupi and the pre-salt (2006–07); the 2010 record share offering and transfer of rights; Lava Jato and the US settlements (2014–18); fuel pricing from import parity (2016) to the 2023 policy; the 2019 transfer-of-rights surplus auction and Búzios; asset sales and dividend fights (2019–24); Jean Paul Prates's ouster (2024); the Equatorial Margin licence (2025)
9 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
1953
Founding O Petroleo E Nosso
Founding (statutory state monopoly)
2006
Tupi Pre Salt Discovery
Discovery (frontier exploration)
2010
Record Share Offering
Financing (state capitalisation) combined with acquisition of reserves from the state
2014
Lava Jato and US Settlements
Regulatory and legal action (corruption scandal, write-offs, settlements) — a failure
2016
Fuel Pricing Import Parity and 2023 Policy
Strategy pivot (pricing policy) and its reversal
2019
Asset Sales and Dividend Fights
Divestment programme and capital-return policy (and their partial reversal)
2019
Transfer of Rights Surplus Auction and Buzios
Acquisition (licensing round under production sharing) and field development
2024
Prates Ouster and Strategy Reset
Leadership change imposed by the controlling shareholder; strategy pivot
2025
Equatorial Margin Licence
Regulatory approval and frontier exploration