Petrobras targets low-hanging fruit

Brazilian company revises spending and downgrades production from high-cost assets to lessen financial burden

Latin America’s leading producers, like much of the global oil sector, are bracing themselves for an arduous operating year. Colombian state-owned Ecopetrol announced cutbacks of $1.2bn, while Mexican NOC Pemex was struggling to post a profit even before economic conditions nosedived. For beleaguered Venezuelan state producer Pdvsa, emergency measures only compound its financial woes. Even in Brazil, one of Latin America’s most attractive oil provinces, state-run Petrobras has scrambled to revise down its financial exposure. The NOC pledged to reduce investments by $3.5bn this year and has slashed oil production by 200,000bl/d to help balance the books. “The impact of the Covid-19 crisis on