MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazil’s state-controlled oil company Petrobras will leave the gas distribution business in Brazil, disposing of all of its assets in the area, reported Reuters with reference to Chief Executive Roberto Castello Branco's statement.
At a Sao Paulo stock exchange event, Castello Branco also said Petroleo Brasileiro S.A., as the company is formally known, planned to sell at least one refinery this year and was expecting to receive binding offers for its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) distribution unit as soon as August.
Petrobras, which is selling tens of billions of dollars of assets to cut debt and refocus on deepwater offshore exploration and production, has already completed some major sales in gas distribution.
In 2016, Petrobras sold its NTS gas pipeline unit in southern Brazil to a consortium led by Brookfield Asset Management SA for USD5.2 billion. In April it sold its TAG unit in northern Brazil to France’s Engie SA for USD8.6 billion.
"We’re going to open up space, selling companies, getting out of transportation. We’ve already started this process, selling NTS and TAG," Castello Branco said. "We’re going deeper with pipeline sales. We’re getting out of gas distribution."
Regarding the company’s LPG distribution unit Liquigas, Castello Branco said Petrobras had already begun making a short-list from the non-binding offers it has received. The company had agreed to sell the unit in 2016 to Brazil’s Ultrapar Participacoes SA, but the deal was blocked by Cade, Brazil’s antitrust body.
"We hope to receive binding offers at the beginning of August," he said.
The company in April presented a plan to sell off eight refineries, in what is likely to be one of its largest ever divestments.
As MRC wrote previously, in H2 June, 2019, Petroleo Brasileiro SA said it had signed a deal with local antitrust regulator CADE regarding the proposed sale of some of its refining installations. According to a securities filing, the company said the agreement will allow for increased competition in Brazil’s refining sector, by attracting new players to the business.
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.
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