Page 10 - LatAmOil Week 03 2020

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Global Infrastructure Partners eyes joint bid in Brazilian refinery sale
US-BASED Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) is reportedly planning to team up with Brazil’s Raízen to participate in a privatisation sale covering four large refineries owned by the national oil company (NOC), Petrobras.
GIP, a financial services firm, is intending to submit a joint offer with Raízen, a fuel distribu- tion firm, sources with knowledge of the mat- ter told Reuters last week. The latter company is a joint venture between Anglo-Dutch major Royal Dutch Shell and Brazilian ethanol pro- ducer Cosan.
Raízen has also presented non-binding offers for the largest refineries that have been put up for sale by Petrobras, Reuters’ sources noted.
This will be New-York based GIP’s first foray into Brazil. The firm, which invests globally in multiple sectors including energy, transport, water and waste management, started a new fund last year for projects in Latin America and in emerging Asian markets.
Brazil’s refining sector has been monopolised by Petrobras for decades. Lately, though, it has started to open up, as the cash-strapped major is divesting non-core assets to focus more on its core business – namely, upstream exploration and development initiatives in the oil- and gas- rich pre-salt areas that lie offshore.
Last December, Petrobras said it was intend- ing to sell around $20-30bn worth of assets, including eight refineries, between 2020 and 2024. The Brazilian company has estimated that the sell-offs and other cost-cutting measures will boost its equity value by roughly 45% by 2021.
The state-owned major plans to complete the refinery divestments first and is due to wrap up the sales of all eight plants by the end of 2020. It shortlisted four potential investors for the first batch of assets last November, asking them to prepare binding offers for the largest four oil-processing plants.
It now hopes to wrap up the sale in the near future. The potential investors must finish form- ing consortia and present their bids by early March, according to Reuters’ sources.
Raízen is one of the shortlisted companies. The others are Brazil’s Ultrapar Participações, China’s Sinopec and Mubadala Investment Co., the United Arab Emirates’ sovereign investment vehicle, Reuters reported. Sinopec is intend- ing to make a bid on its own, the news agency added.` ™
Brasco, APM Terminals will
set up logistics base for Premier Oil
BRASCO, an affiliate of Brazil’s Wilson Sons Group, is teaming up with APM Terminals of the Netherlands to establish a temporary logis- tics base for offshore work in the Ceará Basin.
In a statement, APM Terminals reported that the partners would work together to set up the facility at the Pecém Industrial and Port Complex, which is one of the largest two ports in Ceará State.
The base will provide services related to
cargo receiving and storage, tank cleaning, waste management and the supply of water and other consumables, it said.
The logistics base will begin operating later in the first half of 2020, APM Terminals said. It noted that the offshore support facility would be the first of its kind in Ceará State.
Brasco intends to use the facility to fulfil its obligations under a contract signed with Lon- don-based Premier Oil earlier this month. 
RLAM is one of four refineries slated for sale in March (Photo: Petrobras)
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