Petrobras (PBR)

Economic indexes

Up until September 2009, the business conducted by Petrobras presented a profit of R$ 32.8 billion before financial results, results originating from corporate interests, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), a decrease of 7.4 billion compared to the same period of 2008.

Gross Margin increased 1 percentage point compared to the same period of the previous year, due to the lower average unit costs, as a result of the realization of expenses formed in a period of decreasing international quotations, thus reducing the cost of importing oil and oil products and expenses with government interests. This effect was mitigated by the lower average prices for exports and for the sales of basic oil products on the domestic market, whose prices are indexed to international quotations.

The Operating Margin decreased 5 percentage points compared to the same period of the previous year on account of higher operating expenses, compensated by the higher gross margin for the reasons already mentioned.

The net margin decreased 1 percentage point compared to the previous period on account of the decrease in the operating margin, mitigated by the better results from equity in significant investments, as already mentioned, and by the tax benefit arising from recording a provision for interest on shareholders' equity in 2Q-2009 and 3Q-2009.

Economic indexes

In the first half of 2009 the business conducted by Petrobras presented a profit of R$ 22.9 billion before financial results, results originating from corporate interests, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), a decrease of 3.9 billion compared to the same period of 2008.

The gross margin increased two percentage points compared to the same period of the previous year, due to the lower average unit costs, as a result of the realization of expenses formed in a period of decreasing international quotations, thus reducing the cost of importing oil and oil products and expenses with government interests. This effect was mitigated by the lower average prices for exports and for the sales of basic oil products on the domestic market, whose prices are indexed to international quotations.

The operating margin decreased 3 percentage points compared to the same period of the previous year on account of higher operating expenses, compensated by the higher gross margin for the reasons already mentioned.

The Net Margin remained stable compared to the previous year.