Oil Workers’ Income Plummets 37% in the Last Decade, and Salaries at Petrobras Become One of the Worst Among Competitors

National Federation of Oil Workers Points to Comparison of Petrobras Workers’ Income with That of Seven Other Major Oil Multinationals

According to a survey conducted by the Latin American Institute of Socioeconomic Studies (Ilaese), the average annual salary of Petrobras workers is one of the lowest among competing companies in the global oil market. The research compares the income of employees of Brazil’s largest oil company and one of the largest in the world with that of seven other major multinationals, highlighting the trend of increasing compensation in international companies, contrasted with the continuous decline in the average salary of Petrobras workers over the last decade.

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The research is based on reports released by the companies themselves. “For the purposes of comparison, we calculated the average salary as the result of the relationship between the payroll reported by the company and the total number of direct employees. In all cases, the respective values were converted to dollars, following the annual average exchange rate,” explain Nazareno Godeiro and Gustavo Machado, researchers at Ilaese.

Salary at Petrobras Is Lower than That of Italian Eni, Spanish Repsol, French Total, and Chinese Cnooc

The survey shows that in 2011, the average salary at Petrobras was US$ 98,500 per year. By 2020, the remuneration fell to US$ 61,900, a value 67% lower than the earnings of workers at the Norwegian Equinor and 60% below the annual earnings of employees at British BP. The salary at the Brazilian oil giant is also lower than that of Italian Eni (40%), Spanish Repsol (30%), French Total (26%), and Chinese Cnooc (14%).

The study reveals that the only company that paid less than Petrobras was Petrochina, with an average salary of US$ 49,000 last year. Researchers highlight, however, the opposite salary evolution of both companies, as the average annual salary of Petrobras workers steadily fell by US$ 33,100 between 2011 and 2020, while Petrochina’s increased by US$ 22,300 during the same period. While the Brazilian state-owned company experienced a 37% drop in the average annual salary, the Chinese company’s average compensation grew by 82%.

“Based on the indicated trend, we see it is a matter of time before the average salary of Petrochina workers surpasses that of Petrobras employees, as has already happened with the Chinese oil company Cnooc,” the scholars assess.

Each Year Deepens the Abyss Between Petrobras Salaries and Those of Its Competitors

The conclusion of the research is that each year deepens the abyss between Petrobras salaries and those of its competitors. “In the last decade, all the companies considered in the study saw nominal growth in the average compensation of workers. The only exception was Total. However, while in the French company the salary retraction was 9.94%, at Petrobras the reduction reached 37%. In other words, a difference almost four times greater.”

The survey also refers to the percentage that the payroll occupies of the total revenue of the company. In Petrobras’ case, only 5.66% of the revenue is directed to salaries and benefits for its direct workers. This index is close to that of BP (5.49%), Cnooc (5.13%), and Repsol (5.60%) and well below that of Equinor (8.73%), Total (7.44%), Petrochina (7.63%), and Eni (6.51%).

“It is important to emphasize that all the listed companies are multinationals operating worldwide. The Italian Eni, for example, has most of its exploration fields in Africa, with a currency even more devalued than the real. Despite this, the remuneration of its workers and the fraction of net revenue are greater than those of Petrobras,” affirm Godeiro and Machado.

By – FNP