Glossary
- Letter A
- ADR – American Depositary Receipts
- Certificados negociáveis nos Estados Unidos e que representam uma ou mais ações de uma companhia estrangeira. Um banco depositário norte-americano emite os ADRs contra o depósito das ações subjacentes, mantidas por um custodiante no país de origem das ações. No caso das ações da Petrobras, em 2007 foi alterada a relação entre ações e ADRs e cada ADR passou a representar duas ações subjacentes.
- ADR s - American Depositary Receipts — Certificates
-
representing one or more shares in a foreign company,
that are traded in the United States. An American depositary
bank will issue ADRs against underlying shares
deposited with a custodian in the country of origin of
those shares. In the case of Petrobras, the share ratio
was altered in 2007, with each ADR now representing
two underlying shares.
- Aframax — A crude oil or oil product tanker with dimensions
-
that allow normal operation in commercial
ports. The cargo capacity ranges from 100 thousand to
120 thousand dwt (deadweight tons).
- ANP - NATIONAL AGENCY OF PETROLEUM , NATURAL GAS AND BIOFUELS —
-
The Brazilian regulatory body for the oil
and gas sector.
- API Degree (ºAPI )
-
A scale developed by the American
Petroleum Institute to indicate the relative density of
an oil or oil product. The API scale, measured in degrees,
varies inversely with differences in the relative density,
i.e. the greater the relative density, the lower the API degree.
Conversely, the lighter the oil, the higher the API
degree. Oils with an API of more than 31º are considered
light; between 22º and 31º they are medium; and
lower than 22º they are heavy; while an API equal or
lower than 10º indicates an extra-heavy oil. The higher
the API degree, the greater the product’s market value.
- Ass ociated Natural Gas
-
Natural gas produced along
with oil. A petroleum reservoir usually contains oil, gas
and water. This gas is obtained once the liquid oil fraction
has been separated. There is also non-associated
gas, produced from gas reservoirs, where there is no need
for separation. In the case of both types, however, the gas
is processed before it is placed on the market, in order to
ensure that it meets the required quality standards.
- Letter B
- Biodiesel
-
A renewable and biodegradable alternative
to diesel, obtained from the chemical reaction of animal
or vegetable oils and alcohol, in the presence of a
catalyst, a process known as transesterification. It can
also be obtained through the processes of cracking and
esterification.
- Block
-
A small portion of a sedimentary basin where
oil and natural gas exploration and production is carried
out.
- Book value
-
The value of a company’s net worth or
stockholders’ equity.
- Brent
-
A blend of oils extracted from the Brent and
Ninian systems, in the North Sea, which has an API of
39.4º and 0.34% sulphur content.
- BR GAAP
-
The Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
adopted in Brazil.
- Bunker FUEL
-
Fuel for a vessel, which is stored in a
place called a bunker.
- Letter C
- Certificates of Real-Es tate Receivables (CRI )
-
These
are fixed income securities linked to real-estate credits
- the flow of real-estate purchase or rental payments
- that are issued by securitization companies. The returns
earned on CRIs by private individuals are exempt
from income tax.
- Co-Generation
-
The simultaneous generation of electricity
and thermal energy (heat and steam from the
process), through the sequential and efficient use of
quantities of energy from the same source. This increases
the thermal efficiency of the entire thermodynamic
system.
- Condensate
-
Usually produced with natural gas and
recovered from an underground reservoir in the normal process of field separation. It is gaseous in its reservoir
state but becomes liquid under the normal surface
pressure and temperature conditions at which it is subsequently
kept.
- Conference call
-
A telephone conference wherein
company representatives talk to analysts and institutional
and individual investors, normally held when
the company is disclosing its most recent quarterly
financial results. The company representatives will
usually also provide information regarding their vision
for the future.
- Corporate Governance
-
The relationship between
economic agents (stockholders, executives, board
members) who can influence or determine the course
and performance of a company. Good corporate governance
provides the stockholders with an assurance of
equitable treatment, transparency and accountability.
- Crude oil
-
The primary feedstock at a processing
plant.
- Letter D
- Derivative
-
A contract or security whose value is related
to the changes in the price of another security, financial
instrument or underlying index. Consequently,
it can be used as a hedge.
- DJ SI
-
The Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, which
reflect the return on a hypothetical portfolio of
shares in companies listed at the New York Stock
Exchange (NYSE) that have the best performance in
all facets of business sustainability. Considered to be
the world’s premier sustainability indexes, they are
used as a parameter by socially and environmentally
responsible investors.
- Letter E
- EBITDA
-
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation
& amortization expenses.
- E&P
-
Exploration and production of oil and natural gas.
Ethene or Ethylene — A basic petrochemical product
(C2H4) of the light olefin family, produced from naphtha
or ethane.
- Exploratory Success Rate
-
The number of exploratory
wells with commercially viable oil and/or gas, as
a proportion of the total number of exploratory wells
drilled and evaluated, in any given year.
- Letter F
- Field
-
An oil producing geographical area encompassing
one or more underground oil or natural gas reservoirs,
possibly at variable depths, together with the production
installations and equipment.
- Flex-Fuel Vehicles
-
Automobiles or light utility vehicles
that can use gasoline, alcohol or a mixture of these
two fuels. The choice of fuel is made by the consumer
when refueling the vehicle, taking into consideration
the fuel price and availability and the vehicle’s performance.
- FP SO (Floating, Production, Storage & Offloading)
-
A floating unit for the production, storage and transfer
of petroleum, using a ship as a platform.
- Frontier areas
-
Basins or parts of basins in which
there has been little exploration.
- Fuel Oil
-
The heavier fractions from the atmospheric
distillation of petroleum, widely used as an industrial
fuel in boilers, furnaces, etc.
- Letter G
- Gross margin
- Gross income divided by net revenue.
- Letter H
- Hedge
- A financial position or combination of positions,
taken out for the purpose of reducing a risk of
some kind.
- Letter I
- Ibovespa (Bovespa Index)
-
Indicator of the price
changes of a hypothetical share portfolio that is defined
periodically by the São Paulo Stock Exchange
(Bovespa).
- Installed capacity
-
A plant’s processing capacity, as
authorized by the ANP.
- Investment grade
-
A level of risk classification indicating
that the company is considered to be a low credit
risk and that its shares may therefore be acquired by
more conservative investors.
- ISO 14001
-
Prepared and administered by the International
Organization for Standardization, it specifies
the requirements for the development and certification
of environmental management systems.
- Letter L
- Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG )
-
Supercooled natural gas
that is maintained as a liquid, at -160° Celsius or less, for
the purpose of storage and transportation.
- Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG )
-
A mixture of hydrocarbons
and high-pressure steam, obtained from natural
gas at special processing units, which is kept in a
liquid state under special storage conditions.
- Letter M
- Market share
-
The proportion of total market sales
represented by a specific company or product.
- Market value
-
The value of a company, as measured
by the market price of its shares, multiplied by the number
of shares issued.
- Letter N
- Naphtha
-
An oil product, mainly used as a feedstock
by the petrochemical industry, to produce ethylene and
propylene, as well as other liquid fractions, such as benzene,
toluene and xylene.
- Natural Gas
-
Refers to all hydrocarbons or hydrocarbon
mixtures that remain in a gaseous state under
normal atmospheric conditions, which are extracted
directly from reservoirs of petroleum or gas. The term
embraces moist, dry, residual and rare gases.
- Natural Gas Liquids (NGL )
-
Refers to the portion of
natural gas that is found in its liquid state under a determined
surface pressure and temperature, obtained
during natural gas production through field separation
processes, in natural gas processing units or in gas
pipeline transfer operations.
- Natural Gasoline
-
A liquid with a steam pressure
halfway between those of condensate and LPG, obtained
from natural gas through a process of compression,
distillation and absorption.
- Net margin
-
Net income divided by net revenue.
- Letter O
- Offshore/Onshore
-
Located or operating, respectively,
at sea or on land.
- OH SAS 18001
-
An international standard, prepared
and run by BSI Management Systems, it specifies the
requirements for the development and certification of
health and work safety management systems.
- Oil
-
The portion of petroleum that exists in a liquid
state under original reservoir conditions and
remains liquid under surface pressure and temperature
conditions.
- OPEC basket
-
A basket of oils representing the production
of the members of the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries: Saharan Blend (Algeria); Minas
(Indonesia); Iranian Heavy (Iran); Basrah (Iraq); Kuwait
Crude (Kuwait); Es Sider (Libya); Bonny Light (Nigeria);
Dukhan (Qatar); Arab Light (Saudi Arabia); Murban
(United Arab Emirates) and BCF-17 (Venezuela), used
as a reference base.
- Operating margin
-
Operating income divided by
net revenue.
- Letter P
- Petroleum
-
Any liquid hydrocarbon in its natural
state, such as crude oil and condensate.
- Polyethylene
-
A petrochemical product used to make
objects such as casks, receptacles, film containers and
plastic packaging for clothing and lightweight objects.
- Polypropylene
-
A petrochemical product with uses
similar to those of high-density polyethylene, such as
film, drink crates and packaging.
- Primary process ed throughput
-
The quantity of
crude oil processed at the distillation plants.
- Process ed throughput
-
Total amount of crude oil
plus reprocessing and intermediate products processed
at the distillation plants.
- Propene or Propylene
-
A basic petrochemical product,
produced from naphtha or propane, that serves as
feedstock for making polypropylene.
- Proven Reserves
-
Reserves of petroleum and/or natural
gas that, based upon analysis of geological and engineering
data, are estimated to be profitably recoverable
from reservoirs discovered and evaluated, to a high
degree of certainty, taking into account the prevailing
economic circumstances, feasible operational methods
and Brazilian petroleum and tax regulations.
- Letter R
- Recoverable Volume
-
The volume of petroleum that
can be removed from a reservoir, from start-up to abandonment,
using the best current technology, as determined
through technical-economic studies carried out
up to the time of the evaluation. Recoverable volume =
original volume x recovery factor.
- Reserve
-
Discovered oil and/or natural gas resources
that are commercially recoverable as of a given date.
- Reserve Replacement Index (RRI )
-
The ratio between
the volume of reserves incorporated during any given
year and the total production volume over the course
of that same year.
- Retarded Coking
-
The most severe form of thermal
cracking, that transforms vacuum residue into lighter
products, as well as producing coke.
- ROCE – Return on Capital Employed
-
Calculated using
the equation: net earnings – financial income (net of income
taxes) / average borrowing (loans and financing)
+ average stockholders’ equity – financial investments.
- Letter S
- SEC – Securities and Exchange Commission
-
The regulatory
body that oversees the US capital market. The
Brazilian equivalent is the CVM - Comissão de Valores
Mobiliários.
- SPE
-
Society of Petroleum Engineers.
- Suezmax
-
A crude oil or oil product tanker with the
maximum dimensions for passage through the Suez
Canal. The cargo capacity ranges from 150 thousand to
175 thousand dwt (deadweight tons).
- Swap
-
A contract between two parties to exchange
flows of payments. A typical oil swap consists of a contract
in which one party buys at a certain fixed price
and sells at a future floating price.
- Letter U
- US GAAP
- The acronym for Generally Accepted Accounting
Principles in the United States of America. It
is the US accounting standard.
- Letter V
- Volatility
- Statistical measurement of the changes in
a price or rate over time, usually expressed as a standard
deviation from a norm. The greater the volatility,
the wider is the variation from the mean.
- Letter W
- Work-related illness
- An illness acquired or caused
as a result of the special conditions under which a job is
performed and to which it is directly related.
