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Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) CFO Fernando Melgarejo said the company’s next five-year business plan will contain “realistic” spending levels and possibly include an increase in how much debt the company can take on, Bloomberg reported Monday.
The CFO said ongoing discussions about the 2025-29 business plan – likely to be released in November – include cash levels, investments, and a potential boost in the total debt ceiling of $65B, one of the conditions for dividend payments, but “if there is an increase in the debt ceiling it doesn’t mean we’re going to increase the debt. It would just be a limit to give us flexibility.”
The next business plan will be even more focused on expanding Petrobras’ (PBR) reserves of oil and natural gas, Melgarejo said, after the company’s current plan forecasts a reduction in its oil and gas reserves as early as 2030, a scenario he said was “uncomfortable.”
The reserve reduction is “uncomfortable for the current management, Melgarejo told Reuters. “The focus is to try to replenish reserves as much as possible… without losing sight of the energy transition, but one cannot overshadow the other.”
Petrobras (PBR) just completed a $1B bond sale in its first international operation since 2023, with demand more than 3x higher than the offering, which the CFO said signaled confidence in the new management.
