Optimism despite Petrobras' production decline

Brazil's state-controlled flagship has, of late, been long on promise but short on return. However, its long-term outlook is increasingly bright

Charles de Gaulle, former president of France, is rumoured to have once said: "Brazil is the country of the future... and will always be." For some, that description could also apply to Petrobras, which despite operating in a country where recent giant discoveries promise to make it one of the world's largest producers, the state-controlled firm is instead seeing its share price drop to eight-year lows and output decline for a second straight year. On 31 January, Petrobras reported that its production declined for a third straight month in December to give an average daily output in 2013 of 2.54 million barrels of oil equivalent a day (boe/d), a 2.23% drop on the year before. Petrobras produ