Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras
PBR
Energy
3
exclusion reasons
2 themes
This page is part of our public exclusion list — a transparency tool that shows which companies we screen out and why. It is not investment advice, and it is not an accusation. But it is subject to change as our understanding of the facts evolves.
Petrobras (Petroleo Brasileiro SA) is the Brazilian state-controlled national oil company and one of the largest integrated energy companies in the world. The company operates 10 refineries in Brazil with a combined capacity of 1.8 million barrels per day. Per Petrobras's FY2025 results, oil product output reached 1,790 thousand barrels per day, including 419,000 bpd of gasoline and 452,000 bpd of diesel S-10, with refinery utilization rates reaching 94%. Petrobras is expanding refining capacity by an additional 320,000 bpd through 2030 via revamps and new projects. The downstream segment produces and distributes refined petroleum products both domestically and for export, making Petrobras one of the largest refiners in the Western Hemisphere.
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 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.
Research Sources
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