BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)–Petrobras Argentina SA (PZE, PESA.BA), the local unit of Brazilian oil giant Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR, PETR4.BR), on Wednesday reported second-quarter net profit of ARS72 million ($17.3 million).
That puts the company’s profit down almost 65% from the same period a year ago, when it was ARS203 million.
«The variation of ARS131 million is due mainly to greater exploration costs in the second quarter…,» Petrobras said in a statement to the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange.
Petrobras also said net profit was lower because earnings didn’t include income from Innova SA, a unit that was sold in March 2011. In the second quarter of 2010 Innova had operating income of ARS74 million.
Second-quarter net sales fell to ARS3.237 billion, compared with ARS3.620 billion a year earlier.
Administrative costs totaled ARS391 million, down from ARS419 million.
Exploration costs totaled ARS130 million, compared with ARS65 million a year earlier.
-By Taos Turner, Dow Jones Newswires; 5411-4103-6728; taos.turner@dowjones.com
Source: online.wsj.com