Brazil’s Petrobras with record dividend payout to shareholders

Brazil’s state-owned oil company Petrobras, the largest in Latin America, will pay dividends for the second quarter, at least double those paid by the world’s largest oil producers, filling Brazilian coffers at a tense time before elections.

The five largest oil producers in the West – Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Shell, Total Energies” and PA – recently announced record distributions to their shareholders in recent days, ranging from US$4 billion to US$7.6 billion. But none of the announcements even comes close to Petrobras’s US$17 billion payment.

The Brazilian government, which controls most of the company’s voting shares, asked Petrobras and other state-owned companies last month to increase their dividends to fund new government spending programs.

The call came as the government of President Jair Bolsonaro, who faces an uphill battle for re-election this year, last month skirted a constitutional spending cap to fund higher cash transfers for low-income people.

Petrobras will distribute about 60 percent more to shareholders than its US$10.5 billion profit. Critics say the high payout will hurt the company’s business investments.