(Reuters) - Brazilian state-led oil company Petrobras announced its third-quarter profit had fallen as refining unit losses rose, an unexpected result after being granted its first wholesale fuel-price increase in six years in June.
Consolidated net income fell 12% to 5.57 billion reais (1.6 billion pounds) in the three months ending September 30 compared with 6.34 billion reais in the third quarter of 2011, Petrobras said in a statement.
Net sales, or total sales minus sales taxes, rose 15 percent to 71.8 billion reais, narrowly beating the average estimate of 71.1 billion reais. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, fell 13 percent to 14.36 billion.
Despite the company's losses in Q3, Petrobras plans to launch the first of its new refineries in November 2014. The second line will be put in operation in May 2015. The refinery will add 230,000 bpd of processing capacity, as MRC reported ealier.
MRC