MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazil's state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) is in exclusive talks for 60 days with Mexico's Alpek over the potential sale of PetroquimicaSuape and Citepe assets in Brazil's northeast, reported Reuters.
Mexico's Alpek is the petrochemicals unit of Mexican conglomerate Alfa.
Petrobras' subsidiary PetroquimicaSuape in the state of Pernambuco had revenues of 1 billion reais (USD304 million) in 2015 and posted a net loss of 65 million reais. Citepe, also in the Pernambuco, had revenues of 633 million reais and posted a loss of 817 million reais in 2015.
Petrobras, as Brazil's state oil company is known, has been trying to speed up a plan to divest USD14.4 bln in assets to cut its debt load.
In addition, to the potential sale of its petrochemical assets in Pernambuco, the company is trying to settle on a sale structure for its distribution division Petrobras Distribuidora.
It is also reported to be seeking a buyer for its stake in Latin America's largest petrochemical company, Braskem SA.
As MRC informed previously, in January 2016, Petrobras hired Brazilian bank Banco Bradesco SA as a financial adviser and started to pitch the sale to foreign investors. Petrobras owns a 36 percent stake in Braskem, Latin America's largest petrochemical producer. The sale would help Petrobras meet its target of selling USD15.1 billion worth of assets in 2015-16, a key part of its plan to cut debt as oil prices plunge to 12-year lows.
Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Petrobras is an integrated energy firm. Petrobras' activities include exploration, exploitation and production of oil from reservoir wells, shale and other rocks as well as refining, processing, trade and transport of oil and oil products, natural gas and other fluid hydrocarbons, in addition to other energy-related activities.
MRC