Page 17 - LatAmOil Week 44 2020

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Petrobras recently received binding offers for the REMAN refinery (Photo: Petrobras)

Additionally, the company is expecting next Nevertheless, Petrobras’ chief financial
month to receive binding offers for the Presi- officer, Andrea Almeida, said during last week’s
dente Getúlio Vargas (REPAR) refinery in the webcast that the firm also expected national
southern state of Paraná. regulators to approve the sale of its gas distribu-
The executives did not provide any further tion unit, Liquigas. In the meantime, the firm
details on the negotiations for the refineries. also continues to mull proposals for an initial
Last December, Rio de Janeiro-based Petro- public offering (IPO) for a package of offshore
bras said it was planning to sell around $20- midstream assets, she stated.
30bn worth of assets, including eight domestic For his part, CEO Roberto Castello Branco
oil-processing plants, in the 2020-2024 period. noted that the planned sale of Petrobras’ 51%
The company is trying to pay down debt and stake in Gasbol (TBG), the operator of a gas
recover from the ongoing corruption scandal, pipeline connecting Brazil and Bolivia, was
through a strategy based on divesting non-core being held up by regulatory issues. He also said
assets in order to focus on Brazil’s deepwater that the company did not intend to sell its stake
pre-salt area. However, this year’s crash in crude in the petrochemical company Braskem until
oil prices, alongside a general slowdown in the the latter had made significant improvements
global economy, has caused the sell-off process related to governance and environmental liabil-
to be put on hold in recent months. ities. ™

Petrobras acquires P-71

platform, eyes Itapu start-up

BRAZILIAN state oil and gas major Petrobras Equity in Tupi is split between Royal Dutch Shell
has agreed to buy the P-71 floating production, (UK/Netherlands), with a 25% stake; Petrogal
storage and off-loading (FPSO) platform for (Portugal), with 10%, and Petrobras, with 65%.
$353mn. The firm said the platform, which has Petrobras said it had made the decision fol-
a production capacity of 150,000 barrels per day lowing the Transfer of Rights (TOR) auction in
(bpd), would enable it to begin production at the late 2019, when it acquired full control of pro-
Itapu field around one year from now, according duction rights to the Itapu field.
to Reuters. The company has a 100% stake in the Petrobras originally acquired the right to
field. extract 5bn barrels of oil equivalent (boe) from
The platform, which is in the final stage of the TOR zone a decade ago. The area consists
construction in the southern state of Espírito of four fields known as Itapu, Sepia, Búzios and
Santo, was originally slated for installation at Atapu and is located about 175 km south of Rio
the Tupi field. However, Petrobras has said that de Janeiro in the Santos offshore basin, which
its partners in Tupi, which is near the Itapu field, is home to a section of Brazil’s prolific pre-salt
are ready to agree to a new development plan. region.

Week 44 05•November•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P17