(Bloomberg) -- Petrobras’s next five-year business plan will have realistic investment levels and could possibly include an increase in how much debt the company can take on, Chief Financial Officer Fernando Melgarejo said in a video interview.
Management has ongoing discussions about the 2025-2029 business plan that should be released in November. Melgarejo said the discussions include cash levels, investments, and a potential increase to the total debt ceiling of $65 billion, one of the conditions for dividend payments.
“If there is an increase in the debt ceiling it doesn’t mean that we’re going to increase the debt,” he said. “It would just be a limit to give us flexibility.”
The next plan will be even more focused on expanding the company’s reserves of oil and natural gas.
The company just completed $1 billion bond sale in the first international operation since 2023. Demand was 3.2 times higher than the offering, signaling confidence in the new management, Melgarejo said.
Petrobras is using the proceeds to repurchase more expensive, short-term debt. Melgarejo said Petrobras has no plans now to issue more dollars bonds, but that his team will continue to evaluate opportunities to improve the debt profile.
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