Spotlight: Petrobras’ divestment program

Brazil’s Petrobras has concluded four asset sales and canceled another four since the government’s request in March that the national oil company reassess its divestment program.  

Meanwhile, a number of sale operations remain under reevaluation by Petrobras. 

The divestments involving the Albacora Leste Campos basin field to PRIO, the Norte Capixaba onshore hub to Seacrest Petróleo and the Potiguar onshore hub to 3R Petroleum were concluded in January, April and June, respectively. 

At the end of August, Petrobras closed the sale of the Golfinho and Camarupim offshore hub, in Espírito Santo basin, to BW Energy. 

Earlier this month, the NOC announced it had decided to terminate the processes to sell the Urucu and Bahia Terra onshore hubs, and the Manati shallow water field.

It also canceled the divestment of Argentine subsidiary Petrobras Operaciones (POSA). 

On the other hand, the company will press on with the sales of its stake in Brasympe, owner of the Termocabo thermal plant, and in thermal plants Suape II and UEG Araucária.

Last week Petrobras said that the sale contract for the Lubnor lubricant refinery remains in force. 

The deal  was signed in May 2022 with Grepar Participações and approved by Brazilian antitrust authority Cade in June. According to Petrobras, there are still some conditions that need to be met for the process to conclude. 

As anticipated by BNamericas, Petrobras will keep the Araucária Nitrogenados (Ansa) and UFN-III fertilizer plants in its portfolio. 

In the meantime, it is reevaluating the sale of its minority stake in Brazil-based petrochemical multinational Braskem. 

At the end of last month, the company said it was performing due diligence on Braskem to potentially exercise tag-along or preemptive rights in the event of a sale of the shares held by Novonor in the company. 

Local oil workers unions such as FUP, Sindipetro and Anapetro – who make up a key support base for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – have pressured Petrobras to cancel divestments such as Lubnor and also called for the repurchase of the Mataripe refinery from Acelen. 

The company’s current position is that it will only reassess the planned sales for which contracts have not yet been signed.  

These include:

– Colombia Combustibles (Pecoco), in Colombia

– Mineral rights in Amazonas state

– Metanor petrochemical company

– Petrobras Biocombustível (PBIO)

– Transportadora Bolívia Brasil de Gás Natural (TBG) and Transportadora Sulbrasileira de Gás (TSB)

– Gulf of Mexico fields

– Ceará shallow water hub

– Garoupa shallow water hub, in Rio de Janeiro

– Tartaruga onshore field, in Sergipe 

– Tambaú and Uruguá Santos basin fields

– Abreu e Lima refinery (Rnest), in Pernambuco

– Presidente Getúlio Vargas refinery (Repar), in Paraná

– Alberto Pasqualini refinery (Refap), in Rio Grande do Sul

– Onshore fiber optic network

It is unlikely that Petrobras will move forward with the mid and downstream divestments, nor with the sale of PBIO. The government considers it of strategic importance that the oil giant remains an integrated upstream and downstream group, while diversifying its portfolio with an eye on the energy transition.