Petrobras to Cut Workforce by Twenty Percent

A voluntary layoff program at state-run oil company Petrobras has been accepted by 6,100 employees, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The number may rise by month-end, the deadline for the plan proposed by the oil giant. Around 12,000 employees, or 21 percent of its workforce, are eligible.

If all eligible employees accepted the voluntary layoff program, Petrobras would face an immediate cost of 4.4 billion reais ($1.3 billion) but save 33 billion reais in salaries over the next four years, the company said upon announcing the plan.

Petrobras has nearly $125 billion of debt, the oil industry's largest.

Petrobras reported that second-quarter profit that fell by nearly a third from a year earlier.Net income fell 30 percent to 370 million reais ($118 million) in the three months ended June 30 compared with a profit of 531 million reais a year earlier. The second-quarter 2016 profit comes after a 1.25 billion reais loss in the first quarter of this year.