RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's state-controlled oil and gas giant Petrobras saw net profits of 5 billion reals (1.5 billion U.S. dollars) in the first nine months of 2017, according to a report released Monday.
With the positive results, Petrobras managed to reverse the damages registered in the same period last year, when the company had losses of 17.3 billion reals (5.2 billion dollars).
In the third quarter of 2017, net profits reached 266 million reals (80.6 million dollars), down 16 percent compared to the second quarter. In the third quarter of 2016, Petrobras registered losses of 16 billion reals (4.8 billion dollars).
Adjusted EBITDA (Earning before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) was 63.6 billion reals (19.3 billion dollars) from January to September 2017, stable from last year, and 19.2 billion reals (5.8 billion dollars) in the third quarter, stable from the second quarter and down 13.5 percent from 2016.
Cash flow amounted to 14.7 billion reals (4.4 billion dollars) in the third quarter and 37.5 billion reals (11.4 billion dollars) in the first nine months of the year. According to Petrobras, the company had a positive quarterly cash flow for the 13th consecutive time.
The company's net debt fell 9 percent to 88.1 billion reals (26.7 billion dollars) by the end of September 2017.
Total oil and gas production rose 3 percent, reaching 2.7 million barrels of oil per day in the first nine months of 2017. Out of those, 2.66 million barrels of oil per day were produced domestically.
