Brazil’s Petrobras slashes investment amid kickback probe

RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazil’s state-run oil company announced on Tuesday that it is further slashing investment plans by one-fourth less than a year after similar cuts as oil prices fall and a corruption probe widens.

A Petrobras statement said the company will invest $74.1 billion between 2017 and 2021, a 25 per cent drop from the $98.4 billion previously projected for the 2015-2019 period. It will also sell $19.5 billion worth of assets in the next two years after selling $15.1 billion in the last two.

The company says it aims to produce 2.77 million barrels a day in 2021.

These 5-year projections have repeatedly plunged from $220.6 billion announced in 2014.

Prosecutors have implicated numerous business executives and politicians in a sweeping kickback scheme centred on Petrobras. Petrobras CEO Pedro Parente has said he will root out corruption.

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