管理層發言
Good afternoon, and welcome to Petrobras' webcast with analysts and investors about our second quarter 2026 results. It's a pleasure to have you with us today. This event will be presented in Portuguese with simultaneous interpretation into English. Links for both languages are available on our Investor Relations website. Joining us today are Magda de Chambriard, the President of Petrobras; Angelica Laureano, Executive Officer for Logistics, Commercialization and Market; Clarice Coppetti, Executive Officer for Corporate Affairs; Fernando Melgarejo, Chief Financial and Investor Relations Officer; Renata Baruzzi, Executive Officer for Engineering, Technology and Innovation; Ricardo Wagner, Chief Governance and Compliance Officer; Sylvia Anjos, Chief Exploration and Production Officer; William Franca, Chief Industrial Processes and Products Officer; and William Nozaki, Acting Executive Officer for Energy Transition and Sustainability. To begin with, I will hand it over to our President, Magda de Chambriard, for her remarks. President, please go ahead.
Good morning, everyone. It's a pleasure to be with you today to demonstrate once again Petrobras' capacity to surpass its goals and deliver impressive results to our investors, be they from the public or private sectors. We have the full Board of Petrobras with us, and I'd like to take the opportunity to greet all investors, all of the representatives of our investors, all of the executives that are in this session with us and our partners and everybody that joined us remotely for the disclosure of our second quarter 2026 results. Also, I'd like to greet everybody from the press joining us. We become increasingly prouder of our results. It's a pleasure to be here once again joined by you to once again present another result that surpassed the previous ones, a result of our intensive work with our diverse teams working in partnership to deliver an increasing amount of oil, gas and byproducts with security, quality, efficiency and capital discipline. In the first quarter of 2026, we reached several records. And in the second quarter, we surpassed them with important milestones once again. I must highlight this: we reached the highest net profit on a recurring basis for the quarter in dollars in the history of Petrobras. This recurring profit excludes one-off events. It's also the highest gross profit in the history of Petrobras. And we're proud to say that we achieved those results with no sales of assets. Of course, Brent above USD 100 per barrel strengthened our results, but the highest results achieved are the ones that we will go over now. The highest recurring results were not due solely to record-high Brent. We had over 10 quarters with oil prices above that level in the past. Nonetheless, we achieved the highest recurring results in terms of net profit in the history of Petrobras. Our key differentiator, which we're proud of, is operational administration, which is shared across the company's several different departments. Operational records in terms of the production of oil, gas, refining and selling of products — that's been our commitment. In the quarter, we produced 2.7 million barrels of oil per day in addition to gas. If we consider oil-equivalent barrels, it was more than 3 million barrels per day. We can't promise that we will surpass our goals in the future, but I guarantee that we've always worked towards that, surpassing our goals. In the second quarter of 2026, our goal was to produce 2.5 million barrels per day. We surpassed the goal of the second quarter by 200,000 barrels per day. That's due, among other factors, to increased efficiency in platform production and also by pushing forward the delivery of projects. You probably remember that we moved forward the delivery and the ramp-up of P-78 as well as the delivery and ramp-up of P-79. Other platforms will come. Some of them are already arriving this year. And once again, I will repeat that we will move forward the delivery of big projects. With greater volumes, we also increased our oil export levels with an additional 12% in this quarter. These sales generate greater revenue and cash generation. And here, I must make a side note: in addition to the work involved in production and the engineering work on these projects, the participation of refining in further valuing our oil and also the participation of logistics at Petrobras with the intent of broadening the market for our end product was impressive. And once again, it was these events and the joint work of all departments of Petrobras dedicated to the same purpose and the same goal that allowed us to achieve these great results. Our bigger generation of revenue and cash flow will be used to fund our investments and safely prepare us for the future of the company. The cash flow that's being generated today will be used to fund Petrobras' growth. Just like the company was successful in its first 72 years, we are preparing the company to successfully take on the following 72 years. The refining teams, in addition to production and engineering, did a great job. The utilization factor of our refineries surpassed 100% in the second quarter of 2026. Here at the company, we got into the habit of saying that goals are for the weak of heart. Petrobras is proud to always surpass its goals. We've increased processing while maintaining the same diesel yield and gasoline yield, which is equivalent to greater revenue for Petrobras and greater value to our shareholders, be they public or private, without losing sight of capital discipline. The production of byproducts grew 6% versus the previous quarter. And with that, we were able to reduce imports by 40%, especially those of diesel. We do what we have to do. We are doing it. We've elevated operating efficiency, and we've produced way beyond the original capacity in seven platforms. We've also increased the utilization factor of refineries as a whole, always with safety first. The Brent price and the exchange rate are not something we can control. We don't know where they'll go. That's why we invest with capital discipline, prioritizing projects with high returns. All of our investments involve rigorous governance for approval to verify the attractiveness and the return for our shareholders, be they public or private, and at the same time to deliver value to society. Respect for governance, and reiterating that every day, is a pillar of our administration. We will continue focusing on our business plan, which is well known to all of you, with the commitment to deliver to society a Petrobras that's profitable and absolutely relevant to our country. I will now give the floor to our CFO, Fernando Melgarejo, who will dive into the details of the second quarter of 2026. Thank you all for your attention and presence.
Thank you, President. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for this webcast for the results of the second quarter of 2026. I also want to greet everybody that's here at the headquarters of the company. As we said, we had a quarter of record operating performance, which drove Petrobras to one of its best financial results in history, deeply anchored in the good operating performance. Once again, I must highlight that this was a major step forward where we were able to manage and evolve in the best possible manner, which is one of the highlights of this administration: the search for increased oil production, production efficiency, and accelerated ramp-ups that are also part of the records that we've been bringing to the company. If it were not for that, we wouldn't have achieved the financial records. Financial records are firmly anchored in the operating records of the company. Now let's move forward to Slide 3. Our oil production, as the President already said, was 2.7 million barrels per day, a 15% increase over 12 months, which is equivalent to 350,000 additional barrels. If we compare this period to the same previous period, approximately three platforms produced additional volumes in only one year. As a reminder, last year, we also had records in the third quarter, with an additional 4%. That's quite relevant. We were always wondering where we would get to, and now we can demonstrate with our production that we are reaching our goals, surpassing some indicators as well. Alexandre de Gusmao, for instance, at the Mero field is producing 100,000 barrels and P-78 at Buzios 120,000, and both have the capacity to produce 180,000 barrels per day. That is to say that we have greater capacity to achieve more; in addition to the record-breaking capacity, we still have some room to grow. When they're at nominal capacity, we'll add another 90,000 barrels per day. We also have the ramp-up of P-79, which started operations in May this year and has a capacity of 180,000 barrels. In summary, even with the record production of 2.7 million barrels per day, we still have 270,000 barrels per day of capacity to ramp up in the second half. Another highlight has been the increase in production of certain platforms beyond their nameplate capacities. The Almirante Tamandaré FPSO in Buzios has an original capacity of 225,000 barrels; the unit has reached a peak production of 270,000 barrels per day and is currently the highest producing platform in Brazil. It's a huge platform in a huge field with very positive potential for the coming years. In addition to Almirante Tamandaré, we have another six platforms adapted to operate above their original capacity. Today, this additional capacity already totals more than 100,000 barrels per day — practically a new midsized or large platform — and we're working to continue to expand this potential. The important thing is that we are increasing production safely, and we're doing that without the need for additional construction work, which allows us to increase revenue and cash flow immediately without the need for any additional investment. So it's only revenue without any investment, which is quite positive. Now before moving on to the next slide, I'd like to highlight important news from this week. We announced a new gas discovery in Colombia, which confirms the region's gas potential. This project is aligned with our long-term strategy, which seeks to replenish reserves through exploration across new frontiers. This doesn't mean that Brazil is not our priority — Brazil remains our focus — but we are an international company, so we need to look across our borders as well. Moving on to Slide 4, talking about CapEx. In the second quarter of this year, as we can see on the slide, we invested $5.3 billion, up 4% over the first quarter when we had invested $5.1 billion. So overall, we have $10.4 billion over two quarters at Petrobras. More than 80% of that investment, in fact 82%, is focused on E&P projects, focusing on increasing production with high returns for the company. We increased well drilling by 40% and well completions by 45% versus the previous quarter. Interconnections also increased by 43%, driven by the ramp-up of Buzios 6 and Buzios 8 as well as complementary wells, which helped to maximize production for each production unit. Part of the investment was also allocated to advancing the construction of new platforms in Buzios, such as P-78, P-82 and P-83. These are all huge platforms, each with nameplate capacity of 225,000 barrels. These are projects which offer high returns and rapid cash generation. With P-80, we also expect positive news regarding moving ahead of schedule, much like what happened to P-79. Moving to Slide 5, talking a little about our products. In refining, we hit a record refinery utilization with a 101% FUT, increasing production and higher value-added products. In April and May, we reached about 102% FUT, a record for the company. We've been working with very low FUT rates historically, and another important point: usually when FUT increases, that's because we're focusing on lower value-added products. But in this case, we continue to see the same shares for higher value-added products such as diesel, jet fuel and gasoline, which makes these even more effective refineries. As a result, we expanded the supply of our own products and reduced the need for imports, especially diesel, where we still need some imports. We're essentially self-sufficient in terms of gasoline, and that's all because we have produced more. We also increased oil product output by 6% and reduced our imports by 40% versus the previous quarter. Again, this increases the company's efficiency and cash flow. Another factor with a positive impact for us was exports: even though we were processing more oil, production was so much higher that refining increased and our exports of Brazilian products also increased. We saw an increase by 12% in exports for the company, which improved our cash flow. Moving to Slide 6, a little about our financial results. Our operating records led us to one of the best financial results in Petrobras' history in terms of recurring net income and gross profit. As our President has already said, these were record-breaking figures. Brent prices were high — above $104 excluding one-off events — but, as the President said, it was not the highest Brent price we've ever seen, which also shows that our operating efficiency was very positive. Even so, we achieved adjusted EBITDA, excluding one-off events, of $20 billion this quarter, which was 70% higher than in the previous quarter and nearly double the figure from 12 months ago. Gross profit was $19.5 billion for the quarter, the highest in the company's history. All of that, as we keep repeating, is anchored in our strong operating performance. The higher volume of oil and oil product production and sales combined with higher Brent prices strengthened our cash generation with operating cash flow of $12.3 billion for the quarter, growth of nearly 50% compared with the previous quarter. Now moving to Slide 7, about our debt. This year, we carried out a very important initiative to renegotiate contracts for recharters and well services, constantly monitoring the market to identify opportunities such as this one. The result is expected to generate estimated cash flow savings of over $1 billion over 2026-2030, reducing our debt by over $400 million by 2030. This will lead to significantly lower cash outflows for the company, which will help us reach our goals. Because the amendments extending contract terms were signed in the second quarter, we had to reorganize the value of these contracts and lease liabilities immediately, which increased lease liabilities in the short term but reduced future disbursements and cash flow, creating value. On the slide, we can also see the increase in lease liabilities, but the reduction in financial debt offset the increase, as you can see. This was possible due to our prepayments during the quarter. We repaid loans and financing totaling $2.9 billion, notably the prepayment of $1.4 billion in bank market transactions and the repurchase and redemption of $700 million in bonds issued in the international capital markets. Also during this quarter, we opportunistically raised about $600 million. We ended the quarter with gross debt of $70.8 billion and net debt of $60.4 billion. Without the recognition of the lease contract amendments, our debt would have been at the same level as in 2025. Even so, the trend is still downward. We maintain our expectation of converging to $65 billion over the horizon of this plan, a level that optimizes our capital structure. Looking at our forecast for the year, here we have a snapshot of how we're progressing this semester versus our projections laid out in 2025 and presented in our strategic plan. Production has remained above the top of the range, and we're working hard to exceed the target. We'll deliver as much as possible, though there are challenges. Production is already at a very high level, but we're still committed to delivering as much as we can, especially this year when we have a very interesting price window. With regard to cash investments, we expect to end the year at the top of the range. The projection is $16.9 billion with a 5% margin of error. If we have to bring any investment forward, that will be because it will create added value and bring more value ahead of schedule for the company. We pursue delivery, but we do not want higher project costs. Operating expenses are slightly above plan for this half of the year, pressured by higher freight and logistics — which relate to increased production — as well as exchange rate effects. We totaled $11.7 billion in this half of the year versus a full-year plan of $20.2 billion. We're monitoring the situation; expenses may exceed the projection if global market logistics costs and exchange rates remain at current levels in the next six months. We believe there will be less uncertainty next quarter, and if need be, we will revise the figures with full transparency to all stakeholders. Moving to collections: improved operating results have positive effects for society at large. When we produce more, we pay more taxes. We paid BRL 88.6 billion in taxes and government take in the second quarter alone: BRL 500 million to municipalities, BRL 31.5 billion to state governments, BRL 34.2 billion to the federal government and BRL 22.4 billion in government participation. Petrobras paid about BRL 22 billion more in taxes and government take versus the second quarter of last year. On an annualized basis, we're talking about an increase in government take in taxes of close to BRL 90 billion additional per year. I conclude my presentation reaffirming our commitment to growing the company with profitability and responsibility when it comes to capital. Petrobras' success is shared with society as a whole. Once again, thank you all for your attention. Alongside all our executive officers and the President, we're available to answer your questions. I will now hand it back to Eduardo, who will begin our question-and-answer session.
Thank you, Magda and Fernando. We'll now start our Q&A session. I kindly ask the participants to only ask one question so that we are able to make better use of our time. The first question comes from Bruno Montanari from Morgan Stanley.
分析師問答
Congratulations on the results, especially for the execution and production growth. Focusing on production, the President and Fernando already gave us an idea of how much production could grow this year. But I'd like to see if it's fair to say that the plan curve in the medium and long term does not look very conservative, especially if you look at the highest peak of the curve: it's at 2.6 million or 2.7 million barrels that you surpassed already. In terms of CapEx and in terms of bringing Buzios' deliveries forward and the sequence of P-80 for the quarters and if there will be a ramp-up for the P-80 this year or not, I'd like to know that.
Thank you for your question, Bruno. We have to remember that we work with nonrenewable resources; producing 2.7 million barrels per day is a challenge, especially because we have to face production declines. Nevertheless, these declines have been reduced. Just to give you an idea, when we took office, we were looking at a decline of 12% a year. Currently, this decline is in the range of 4% per year due to better reservoir management, better water injection, adequate production methods, improved field management and so on. And of course, with the new platforms arriving and the platforms that went into production recently and with the ramp-up achieving its peak, we will achieve the planned results and likely surpass them. However, surpassing results is something that we like delivering without promising anything previously. With that, I'll give the floor to Sylvia and Renata. Renata will talk about the new platforms that will go into production. They're arriving soon in Brazil; they're leaving Asia and coming to Brazil. But I'd like to mention an important aspect: the first huge platform that is different from the previous ones that we had at Petrobras was Almirante Tamandaré with a capacity of 225,000 barrels per day. That platform, as Fernando mentioned, produced 270,000 barrels per day. Its capacity has been effectively expanded, and it has produced that many barrels. With pre-salt production capacity, platform interconnections, better field management, drilling high productivity wells and connecting platforms, all of these efforts led us to transform a platform and move it from a capacity of 225,000 barrels per day to production of 270,000 barrels per day. But that alone is not enough. In addition to those platforms, we have another three that will be arriving between this year and next year, all of them 225,000-barrel-per-day platforms and all aiming to achieve 270,000 barrels per day in terms of production. At the end of the day, that means 45,000 barrels per day times four or 180,000 barrels per day that are on top of the original ones as a result of Petrobras' efforts in surpassing goals. So that's what we do: better management of fields, better platform management, better platform design leading to debottlenecking in giant platforms, and that's what we've been delivering. We do the same in refineries. I mentioned this and Fernando did too: the utilization factor of our refineries, which in the past might have been 65% or 70%, currently surpasses 100% with Petrobras' aim to continually exceed its best results and deliver them to shareholders. Renata will talk about the staged delivery of the new platforms, and Sylvia will talk about the ramp-up of P-78 and P-79. Over to you, Renata.
Hi, Bruno. Good afternoon. We'll talk about P-80, P-82 and P-83. P-80 and P-82 sailaway is scheduled for the third quarter of 2026 and production will start in the second quarter of 2027. We are working strongly toward bringing forward the production of P-80 to the first quarter of 2027. For P-83, the sailaway is scheduled to occur at the beginning of the first quarter of 2027 with production starting in the second half of 2027. As the President said, we are constantly working toward bringing production forward. We've been doing pre-lays, prelaunching of lines and anchoring. The thing is, historically speaking, the second half has worse sea conditions than the first half, so we cannot safely promise that we will be able to bring it forward due to weather issues. So we're working on bringing P-80 forward to Q1 2027, but we must consider seasonal sea conditions for scheduling.
Thank you, Bruno, for your questions. I'm sorry.
Thank you, Bruno, for your question. Just picking up on what the President and Renata said: the forecast for production is based on a risk analysis of everything that's scheduled. We have scheduled the ramp-ups for P-78 and P-79; all of that has been included in our risk analysis. We always like to work with a leeway of more or less 4%, and we'll certainly reach the top of guidance, always seeking to surpass past results as the President likes to say. Right now, we consider it reasonable to maintain the maximum at 4% reaching 2.6 million (as guidance). We know there are downtimes. One thing we always like to highlight is that we're receiving these super huge platforms of ~220,000 barrels per day. Our concern is how we will manage the downtimes of such large platforms. We've been strongly investing in three things: better planning of downtimes, improved timelines and headcount capacity planning — like an F1 pitstop approach — to reduce scheduled downtime. If you reduce a downtime by a week or even three days, that's a lot of additional oil. So we've been focusing heavily on scheduled downtime management. Another area is guaranteeing production through platform integrity: we're reaching a record reduction in technical inspection recommendations by improving maintenance and integrity to have less unplanned downtime. To give an idea, for scheduled downtimes this year, we expect the equivalent of 290,000 barrels per day lost during downtimes. We'll try to reach maximum production, but the guidance includes all possible variations: equipment inspections and any other occurrences.
The next question comes from Monique Greco from Itau BBA.
I'd like to approach the subject of diesel import strategy. How is the company assessing the decision to import diesel given the current price scenario vis-à-vis its pricing strategy and its commercial strategy, especially now that there is huge volatility? With the recent increase, we saw local prices below import parity. How does that fit into your commercial strategy?
Hi, Monique. This is Angelica. Let's go over our production planning process again. It takes into account the commitments we enter into with our customers and seasonal variations in demand, our refining activities and how much is available, refining margins and logistics structures. We consider all of that. Given that context, our policy is maintained. Our commercial strategy remains unchanged. Our importing decisions are still based on the criteria of competitiveness and profitability. We must also point out that there is a public policy in force that supports the internal market and that leads perceived customer prices to be lower. We plan operations to meet contractual commitments and seasonality, and we import when it is competitive and necessary to meet demand.
Next question comes from Jorge Gabrich from Scotiabank.
Congratulations on the results, especially in terms of volumes. I'd like to go back to decline: Petrobras' decline is quite low at around 4% in the pre-salt. How sustainable is that moving forward? If you think about forecasts for the next few years, how do you see this decline behaving?
Thank you, Jorge. This reduced decline is the result of a strategy that is followed strictly along with the monitoring of the fields. We should not forget that we have huge reservoirs. For example, the Tupi field has a contractual limit of 1,200 square kilometers. If we compare that to a large post-salt field, Tupi is substantially larger. These huge fields produce a lot with high productivity. We're managing fields as a whole and relying on world-class assets. I'll give the floor to Sylvia to expand on the technical initiatives.
There is a natural decline, Jorge, and we attempt to fight it in four main areas. First, 4D seismics allows better understanding of reservoir behavior. Second, intelligent completions let us isolate zones that produce water or gas and manage production more optimally. Third, water injection: on my first day at Petrobras, the President prioritized water injection, and we've achieved record volumes in water injection to maintain reservoir pressure and reduce declines. Fourth, supplemental wells and better well placement based on seismic data. All these actions reduce decline and help replace production. In Tupi we've been able to maintain a significant production level, which also benefits our partners.
Our next question comes from Yuri Pereira with Santander.
With the very favorable cash generation environment, both because of market circumstances and the company itself, I wanted to understand how that works versus your plan for 2026–2030. For example, thinking about allocation of this incremental capital that's coming throughout this year: might you allocate more to refining or other ambitions Petrobras has in mind?
This is an ongoing discussion for us. Wherever we go, any meeting includes the question of what to do with additional cash flow: do we invest, reduce debt or increase shareholder returns? Our dividend formula remains in place, and ordinary cash distribution is 14%. Debt reduction is a priority: we have the aim to converge net debt toward $65 billion over the horizon of the plan and ultimately to the level set in our strategic planning. Priority #1 is to advance investments that generate value and accelerate projects such as P-80 if they improve returns. Priority #2 is to converge debt as quickly as possible to the target established in our plan — earlier if feasible. We're already working on the new strategic planning beyond 2026–2030. Extraordinary dividends are unlikely at the moment because the environment remains uncertain and Brent is expected to revert toward levels assumed in the strategic plan. So the pragmatic path is: fund high-return investments, reduce debt, and if there is surplus with no better investment, consider additional distributions.
Our next question comes from Gabriel Barra with Citi.
I wanted to touch on something we haven't discussed yet: Braskem. We have been getting a lot of questions. We're seeing the company in a tricky situation with news about a potential judicial reorganization. Petrobras has some involvement in these conversations. How do you see that from Petrobras' side? I understand there are governance constraints and concerns about capital allocation. Could you comment on Petrobras' stance regarding Braskem's future and potential capital injections? What is your approach and what should we expect as an outcome?
I'll start briefly and turn it over to Fernando. As you know, we had little influence in Braskem's bylaws historically. The recent change in the shareholders' agreement increased Petrobras' voice, and only now are we moving closer to better understand the situation at Braskem. I would not like to say too much now because Braskem will be sharing their earnings next week, but we are looking closely with a new perspective.
We have to take a step back with respect to Braskem and remember we have a new shareholders' agreement, as the President mentioned, which changed the balance of economic and governance influence. Since the agreement changed two months ago, we are reviewing our options in line with that agreement and are in touch with Braskem's Board of Directors. There is an injunction in place related to the company that ends on October 24, and Braskem will present its results on August 13. This is a sensitive time and a number of decisions depend on ongoing information and negotiations, so we cannot disclose more at this point without affecting those processes.
Next question, Lilyanna Yang with HSBC.
Congratulations on your results. I have a question about energy policy. One relates to gas: the Brazilian government would like to lower gas prices for Brazilian consumers. What's Petrobras' role in this process? For example, where will you sell gas coming from Sergipe? Another question: regarding new frontiers, could you give an update on your investments in Namibia, São Tomé and Príncipe, and other areas outside Brazil?
I'll begin and then Angelica, William and Sylvia may add. Starting with gas: our projects often focus on oil with associated gas. Any regulatory changes will affect project economics and structures. Sometimes regulatory changes will be beneficial, sometimes neutral, sometimes negative. Wherever in the world regulatory changes occur, we reassess projects. We must ensure projects are profitable — we are not an NGO. Any change in regulation or taxation requires a reassessment of the project's premises, whether oil and gas, refining, petrochemical, etc. We'll reassess projects to ensure necessary returns.
Adding to the President's comments: Petrobras' assessment of the regulatory discussion has been shared publicly in recent weeks. The Board's view is that mere transfer of gas molecule ownership is not sufficient to ensure increased supply, which is what the market needs. The Brazilian gas market is already opening and becoming more pulverized: there are over 30 companies competing with Petrobras and over 100 free consumers, and the five privately operated terminals already handle volumes larger than Petrobras'. Our assessment is that regulatory stability and legal certainty are critical to maintain investment discipline and price stability. We will participate in the public consultation process and will submit our position in the coming 45 days.
I would add that Petrobras' market share is around 15.6% of the gas market, so the market is already open. We have extended contract profiles and offered alternatives to mitigate price volatility for customers. Petrobras consistently seeks to reduce the impact of gas price volatility in the industry. Regarding the proposed gas release, we are observing the regulator's process and potential alternatives under discussion by government bodies.
From the E&P standpoint, we've increased gas production and exports; volumes have been approaching 50 million cubic meters in some periods, making more gas available. We also increased land gas production in Urucu. Our recent gas discovery in Colombia also adds potential export opportunities: combined, these discoveries exceed Colombian domestic needs, offering export potential. Internationally, we have been investing and exploring in several areas: approximately $7 billion in exploration-related investment across the Equatorial margin, the Southeast margin and other international projects which include Africa. We have positions or partnerships in South Africa (with Total), Namibia, and partnerships elsewhere. We are evaluating opportunities in Ivory Coast and Mexico, always with the purpose of replenishing reserves.
Next question comes from Tasso Vasconcellos with UBS.
Picking up on the last discussion: Petrobras has been emphatic about reserves replacement with new discoveries. Moving away from the domestic scenario, what are the main priorities for international expansion if it occurs? We discussed Mexico and Africa; where do you see more upside and where would Petrobras dedicate analysis and resources? For example, Mexico, Venezuela, Bolivia — where would you focus if expansions occur?
Thank you, Tasso. There is no future for an oil company without exploration and reserves replacement. We reinforce our expertise in South America — we've operated for decades in the region, including gas in Bolivia for 30+ years and recent cross-border flows with Argentina. South America remains a major area for Petrobras. Regarding Mexico and Africa, geologic similarities to Brazilian deepwater and ultra-deepwater pre-salt/turbidite plays make them attractive. Our experience in Brazil gives us know-how that translates to deepwater plays elsewhere. We look for geologic and technical fit and geopolitical partnership potential. I will hand over to Sylvia for more detail.
As the President said, we have competencies in deep and ultra-deep geology. In Africa, Mexico and the Equatorial margin we are looking at turbidite reservoirs similar to Campos Basin plays. The pre-salt is unique to Santos Basin, but Mexico has salt-related structures and Pemex's deepwater expertise is limited compared to ours. We have a nonbinding MOU with Pemex and are acquiring seismic data to evaluate potential areas. So far, we are collecting seismic data and will form opinions on which areas might add value.
Next question comes from Milene Clifford from JPMorgan.
A quick follow-up about downstream. You talked about import strategy considering seasonality, but how does the company see the crack spreads for the second half and the maintenance strategy for refineries in that scope? You've been running the refining complex above 102% FUT. What can we expect in terms of timing and duration of downtimes for the second half?
Thank you for the question. Q3 is seasonally a quarter of higher diesel demand. Our operating planning accounts for that. In this quarter we'll consider imports as necessary. Diesel cracking dynamics led us to maximize internal diesel production. Our operating planning is done in close conjunction with refining to maximize refinery use and minimize imports. In any case, imports are happening naturally with no supply shortage in the market.
Thank you for the question. To clarify: when we postponed some downtimes for REGAP and REPLAN, we did not postpone all downtimes from H1 to H2. The downtimes scheduled for catalytic cracking (FCC) and REGAP are part of the planned maintenance, and Cubatão's diesel-related downtime was already scheduled. The postponement of REGAP and REPLAN was due to ongoing expansion projects that were not mature; we decided to postpone to early 2027 after reliability analysis so as to reduce profit loss and align with project readiness. This postponement reduces loss by about 45 days. We have two important expansions at REVAP and REPLAN and REGAP that will add roughly 10,000 cubic meters per day of additional capacity. We have almost 300,000 of diesel improvements: about 100,000 from expansions and optimizations at refineries with low incremental CapEx and the remaining 200,000 from new diesel plants at Boaventura HCC and RNEST. Renata's engineering team will deliver these at year-end, and we'll increase throughput substantially. Regarding FUT, in April–May–June we reached record FUT levels and in July we reached a record diesel production: 3,904,000 cubic meters of total diesel production in July. That shows the decision to manage downtimes was positive. We intend to operate above 95%–98% levels, improving reliability and safety. Our recordable incident rate is 0.3, a very good result well below global benchmarks, showing that we can run high loads with safety.
I just wanted to reinforce what William said: we are exceeding our targets, and we are replacing Petrobras' refining capability so we can produce increasingly more value-added products and fewer conventional products. Diesel has been our flagship, and the diesel results you see are a result of that focused effort.
Our next question comes from Rodrigo Almeida with BTG.
We discussed international opportunities. I'd like to return to a few opportunities in Brazil: Tupi, Alto de Cabo Frio Central and the Equatorial margin. Could you provide an update on Tupi (concession extension or changes), the status and economics of Alto de Cabo Frio Central given exploration success, and any expected news on the Equatorial margin over the next few weeks?
Regarding Tupi, negotiations are ongoing and we are engaging with government stakeholders; any result would be premature to disclose now. On the Equatorial margin, we continue to drill the block BM-F-49 and are awaiting permits for three contingent wells in addition to the firm well. An area of that size requires more than one well to properly assess potential; whether we find oil or not, exploration must continue. As for Alto de Cabo Frio Central, we are assessing it together with partners because there are some challenges related to high obligations to return oil volumes to the federal government, which requires a very detailed assessment that is underway. I'll turn it to Sylvia for more on the Equatorial margin.
As the President said, we are in negotiations on Tupi and must await stakeholders' assessments. For the Equatorial margin, we are eagerly awaiting the result of the well being drilled. We have overcome technical challenges and are moving quickly up the learning curve so subsequent wells can be faster. There are about 500 meters left to reach the reservoir in this well; we expect significant oil if the target is successful. If not, contingent wells will be necessary. We have 32 blocks in the Equatorial margin and it is a large new frontier requiring multiple wells to assess potential accurately. The early data from nearby Suriname, Guyana and Ghana have been positive, so we are optimistic and anxiously awaiting the end of the current well drilling. Regarding Alto de Cabo Frio Central, we continue detailed assessments with partners because of contractual and technical complexities.
Our next question comes from Vicente Falanga with Bradesco BBI.
The company has been vocal about investments abroad: Africa, the Gulf of Mexico and Latin America. There has also been mention of rare metals and assessment of the Jupiter basin for potential offshore exploration. How much do you plan to invest in those segments? I understand rare metals are beyond the company's main focus, so what's your stance?
We have been improving production and focusing on operations, but we also assess new opportunities that could generate value. For now, we have no commitment to invest in rare metals or similar segments you mentioned; these are opportunities under evaluation. Any new investment would need to pass our governance and economic feasibility thresholds. All projects must fit our strategic and financial criteria. We continue to assess international opportunities, but there is no committed spend on rare metals at this time.
Our next and last question comes from Caio Ribeiro with Bank of America.
I have a question about capital allocation, specifically M&A priorities. Could you add color to priorities such as returning to licensing and fuel distribution, moving into ethanol, or purchasing the Mataripe refinery? Please comment on timing of decisions, when to expect assessments and where things stand today.
We remain on track with our strategic plan, which drives decision-making. Other opportunities may be added if they create value. We will respect non-compete arrangements with partners (such as Vibra). We have an ambition in distribution focusing on B2B rather than retail, and several projects are progressing. Regarding Mataripe, we are performing due diligence; negotiations have not advanced to a point to disclose news. If situations evolve, we will communicate to the market in due time.
On ethanol specifically: it remains a priority in our business plan. Brazil has technological and policy maturity in ethanol, and it's a segment we consider strategic. Negotiations are ongoing and confidential; when appropriate we will disclose developments. The energy transition is a focus area and we look closely at ethanol and other segments respecting confidentiality of negotiations.
I would add that distribution of fuel and LPG is consistent with our strategy to move closer to the market. Whenever possible and once any restrictions are removed, we will evaluate opportunities to expand in distribution.
Thank you, Caio, for your question. Fernando, Angelica and William, thank you for your answers. We would like to thank everyone for joining us. This concludes our question-and-answer session; any additional questions may be sent to our Investor Relations team. I will now hand it over to Petrobras' President, Magda Chambriard, for her closing remarks. President, please go ahead.
Reiterating what we said before: Petrobras' performance has been professional and guided by capital discipline, attention to our projects and fields as well as our assets to always maximize value with operational efficiency and respect for health and safety standards. That's what guides Petrobras' Board and advisory bodies with the purpose of delivering value to our bondholders, whether private or public, always guided by capital discipline. That will remain our policy. Thank you, and we hope to deliver equally satisfying results next quarter.
Thank you, Magda. A recording of this conference will be available for replay online.