Petrobras net profit falls nearly 90%

Brazil's state-run oil giant Petrobras, rocked by a massive graft scandal, said Thursday that second quarter net income fell nearly 90 percent from a year ago, in part due to plummeting crude prices.

The company attributed the sharp drop in net income -- a figure that was far lower than analysts had expected -- to an increase in tax expenses.

Petrobras also said it suffered from a 1.3 billion reais deterioration in the value of its assets after slashing its multi-year investment plan.

The company reported net income of 531 million reais ($150 million) in the second quarter, compared to 4.96 billion reais in the same period last year.

In the first quarter, Petrobras clocked net income of 5.330 billion reais.

Share value has plummeted as the company battles a mountain of debt and struggles to meet production goals in the wake of the corruption scandal.

Prosecutors estimate that some $2.1 billion in bribes was moved as part of the scheme, and several top politicians have been implicated.

Investigators allege that top Petrobras executives colluded with construction companies to inflate contracts and to bribe politicians.

Numerous government officials have been arrested in the probe, with police detaining a top aide to former president Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva this week.

The former treasurer of the ruling Workers' Party was arrested in April on charges that he funnelled bribes skimmed from the top of fake Petrobras contracts.

Prosecutors have also announced charges against Marcelo Odebrecht, chairman of Brazil's biggest construction firm, Odebrecht.