Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras

Petrobras — Brazilian state-controlled integrated oil and gas company; primary upstream E&P plus refining and petrochemicals

Petrobras operates as a vertically integrated oil and gas company, directly engaged in the exploration, production, refining, and distribution of fossil fuels. This places its core business activities outside the scope of the `fossil_fuel_ancillary` exclusion code, which is reserved for companies providing services or equipment to fossil fuel operators without direct extraction or refining. The company's own reporting states it owns and operates 11 refineries in Brazil with a gross capacity of 1.93 million barrels of crude oil per day. Furthermore, Petrobras has been centrally involved in a massive corruption scheme, with the company admitting to failures in its books and records and agreeing to pay more than $850 million in 2018 to settle violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Petrobras is a state-controlled integrated oil and gas company that spans the full fossil fuel value chain, from exploration and production to refining, transportation, and retail. It is one of the largest oil producers in Latin America, with a primary focus on offshore pre-salt reserves.

The company's operations have been central to one of the largest corruption scandals in corporate history. As part of Operation Lava Jato (Car Wash), Brazilian and U.S. authorities uncovered a vast bribery and bid-rigging scheme. In 2018, Petrobras entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice and reached a global settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Brazilian authorities, agreeing to pay more than $850 million to resolve violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Prosecutors alleged that for years, the company's executives accepted bribes from contractors and, in separate schemes, received bribes from major international commodities trading firms in exchange for favorable contracts.

Petrobras has been responsible for multiple significant oil spills in Brazilian waters, causing documented ecological damage. In March 2025, a Brazil appeal court fined the state energy company for environmental damage caused by oil spills in the Campos Basin off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. A more recent incident report from January 2026, seen by Reuters, details a leak of approximately 15 cubic meters of synthetic drilling fluid. The company's operational history includes the major 2019 oil spill along the Brazilian coast, which scientific literature notes left areas polluted with toxic contaminants for years. This pattern of spills points to systemic operational risks in environmentally sensitive regions.