Brazil’s troubled state oil firm Petrobras on Tuesday made a bullish forecast on its funding for the year while also reducing its previously declared target for divestments, according to Reuters.
In a statement issued after the company issued disappointing third-quarter earnings, Petrobras said it expects to raise $22bn in funds, much more than the $13bn it forecast earlier this year.
The company, which has been wrestling with a huge bribes-for-inflated-contracts corruption scandal for two years, is the most indebted oil firm in the world.
Despite having vast offshore oil interests, Petrobras has been hit badly by the general long-term downturn in the price of the fossil fuel.
Part of the company’s strategy to reduce its red ink has been divestment of assets – along with staff cuts, budget revisions, cutbacks in investment etc. In its previous forecast, Petrobras had estimated it would divest $8bn this year but now has reset that amount to $7bn.
It does not include the big initial public offering (IPO) planned for fuel distribution arm BR Distribuidora.
