Petrobras paid BRL 240.2 bi in taxes and royalties in 2023
Petrobras announced this week it paid BRL 240.2 billion in government taxes and royalties for oil exploration and production in 2023.
The company is Brazil’s number-one taxpayer, even though the sum is lower than in 2022, when the state-run oil giant disbursed BRL 279 billion. The decrease is in line with the state-owned company’s profits, down 33.8 percent between 2022 and 2023.
Of the total paid in 2023, BRL 178.8 billion are taxes—of which BRL 87.4 billion are federal, BRL 90.2 billion state, and BRL 1.2 billion municipal taxes.
Top municipalities
The municipality that received the most transfers from Petrobras was Macaé, in northern Rio de Janeiro state, with BRL 253.7 million—almost three times the amount of the second place, Cubatão, in São Paulo. The Campos basin, on the coast of Rio de Janeiro, lies within Macaé’s coverage area.
Royalties
Another BRL 61.4 billion transferred to Rio de Janeiro state are the so-called government contributions, which mainly include royalties for oil exploration and special contributions—an extraordinary financial compensation owed by oil or natural gas exploration and production concessionaires for fields with a significant volume of production. Some 60 percent of these payments are royalties and 40 percent are made up of special contributions.
The amounts remitted in royalties and special contributions are directly linked to the prices of oil and natural gas on the international market, listed in dollars.
The amounts transferred to governments “are vital for financing public policies and make a positive impact on society as a whole,” Petrobras stated.
Other countries
The state-owned company’s 2023 tax report shows it handed over $452.74 million in taxes abroad. The largest transfer was to the Netherlands, $368.92 million. In 2023, it had 41 companies incorporated overseas: 28 subsidiaries, two associates, and 11 jointly controlled ventures.
Petrobras pointed out that, in January 2023, its board of directors approved a tax policy which, among other things, commits the company to not having shareholdings in jurisdictions recognized as having favored taxation—i.e. tax havens.
