RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's state-controlled oil and gas giant Petrobras posted Wednesday a record-high net income of 40.1 billion reals (10.2 billion U.S. dollars) in 2019.
According to Petrobras, the higher net income reflects the gains made from asset sales in 2019 -- Petrobras divestments in 2019 amounted to 16.3 billion dollars.
The company's adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was 129.2 billion reals (32.8 billion dollars), an increase of 3.8 percent from 2018. Petrobras attributed the amount to lower production costs and contingencies.
The remuneration to shareholders in the form of dividends and interest on capital stood at 10.6 billion reals (2.70 billion dollars), equivalent to 0.73 reals (0.19 dollars) per common and 0.92 reals (0.23 dollars) per preferred share in circulation.
Petrobras stressed the importance of production rises in 2019, which were accompanied by lower production costs.
"After years of stagnation, our oil and gas production surpassed the mark of three million barrels per day...... Pre-salt operations, with a lifting cost of approximately three dollars per boe (barrel of oil equivalent), played a relevant role in the reduction of the total average cost," the company said.
Petrobras also highlighted their efforts to modernize and streamline production and update information technology infrastructure.
"With the use of artificial intelligence, we are developing projects that have the potential to revolutionize oil exploration and project development, substantially reducing the probability of drilling dry wells and the period between discovery and first oil," Petrobras said.
