Petrobras Pounds Out a Good One

One of the world's more intriguing and recently successful oil companies, Petroleo Brasileiro -- better known as Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) -- has managed to turn a number of levers to report solid quarterly results.

Petrobras, the national oil company of Brazil and recently the toast of the oceans for its string of deepwater oil discoveries, said its second-quarter profits increased by 29% to $5.46 billion. At the same time, its revenue rose 30% for the quarter.

As with other major oil companies, including ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM), BP (NYSE:BP), and ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP), Petrobras has been a beneficiary of the sharp spike in global petroleum prices during the past year. But unlike many of its western Big Oil peers, the company managed to parlay some of its major discoveries off its coast into a 4% hike in crude oil and natural gas production for the quarter. Its total output averaged to about 2.39 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day.

From my perspective, Petrobras, which also announced Monday that it will spend about $400 million for Exxon's stake in Esso Chile Petrolera's distribution assets, merits ongoing attention from Foolish investors. In an effort to expand on its recent success in its deepwater, the company is locking up rig deals left and right with the likes of Transocean (NYSE:RIG), Diamond Offshore (NYSE:DO), and Noble (NYSE:NE).

Of the Motley Fool CAPS players who rate Petrobras, 98% are high on the company. What's your opinion?  

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