Petrobras to Spend $320 Million to Hedge Portion of Oil Production
Posted on 03/25/2019
Revealed on March 22, 2019, Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) spent US$ 320 million on put options as a hedge. Brazil’s state-owned oil company bought the options to hedge part of its crude production for 2019. This is at an equivalent of US$ 60 per Brent oil barrel. The options will expire by the end of 2019.
The put options enable Petrobras to deliver oil at US$ 60 per barrel, but not the obligation to do so.
In a securities filing, Petrobras said, “The strategy is to hedge the export operations expected for the year, that way partially protecting the company’s operational cash flow.”
To compare to 2018, Petrobras is spending less on options in 2019. Petrobras had put options at US$ 65 a barrel, covering 128 million barrels.
