The oil giant, Petrobras, on Monday said its first quarter net profits fell 20 percent or $2.83 billion as the global demand in oil slashes in the current economic downturn.

It posted first quarter net profits of 5.816 billion reais from 7.24 billion reais the same period a year ago. Revenue down 9 percent to 42.6 billion reais in the first quarter from 46.8 billion reais in the same quarter a year earlier.

Analyst expects net profit of 5 billion reais or $2.4 billion reais according to a survey by Thomson Reuters.

Recently, the Brazilian oil company posted better than expected fourth quarter net profit of 7.36 billion reais or $3.1 billion from 5 billion in same period a year earlier due to high demand in commodities and greater output.

Shares of Petrobras also fell 0.36 reais to 0.86 % at 41.30 reais in San Paolo Stock trading.

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