国际英语新闻：Brazil's Petrobras most profitable in L.America

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's state-controlled oil and gas giant Petrobras turned out to be the most profitable public company in Latin America in 2009, according to a study released on Friday by consulting company Economatica.

It is the second consecutive time that Petrobras leads Economatica's yearly ranking. According to the study, the company registered earnings of 16.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2009, almost three times as much as the second company in the ranking, Mexican telecom America Movil, which registered earnings of 5.887 billion dollars in the year.

Brazil's mining giant Vale ranked third, with profits of 5.886 billion U.S. dollars, followed by Banco do Brazil bank, with 5.828 billion U.S. dollars, and Itau Unibanco bank, with 5.781 billion U.S. dollars.

Economatica analyzed the profits of 94 Latin American companies. Out of the 30 most profitable public companies in the region, 18 were Brazilian, five were Mexican, three were Chilean, two Argentinean, one Colombian and one Venezuelan.

Together, the 30 most profitable companies in Latin America registered earnings of 73.6 billion U.S. dollars, up 6.3 percent from 2008.

According to Economatica, the oil and gas sector was the most profitable area in 2009: the oil companies in the top 30 list had a joint income of 20.1 billion U.S. dollars. The sectors with the most representatives in the top 30 were the banking and energy sectors, with six companies each.