In Brazil, Petrobras presents in detail its refinery and other asset sale projects By Reuters

By Marcelo Teixeira

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – The state-controlled Brazilian oil company Petrobras on Friday announced for the first time its planned sale of a series of refineries and other badets, while the company focuses on its core business of oil and gas exploration.

Petrobras, or Petroleo Brasileiro SA, said its board of directors had approved a plan to sell eight refineries in Brazil, including its newly-built large Abreu e Lima unit, according to a stock ranking.

The company also announced that it would sell a chain of petrol stations in Uruguay, called PUDSA, and an additional stake in the Brazilian No. 1 fuel distributor BR Distribuidora SA in the course of one operation. mbadive divestment aimed at reducing debt and raising funds to invest in its main oil exploration area.

Petrobras, which currently holds a 71% stake in BR Distribuidora, said it was evaluating a secondary offer to reduce its stake in BR Distribuidora.

A source directly aware of the decisions taken by the board of directors told Reuters earlier Friday that the oil company could reduce its stake in BR to 40%.

Petrobras said that his unit Gabriel Pbados, located in the center of the state of Minas Gerais, the Getúlio Vargas refinery, in the south of the state of Paraná, and the unit of Landulpho Alves in northern Bahia state, are among the other refining badets offered for sale. largest refineries in the country with a processing capacity of 323,000 barrels per day.

The Abreu e Lima unit is emblematic. Launched in 2005 as a joint project for Brazil and Venezuela, in collaboration with the left-wing governments of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Hugo Chavez, the unit has experienced successive cost overruns that have resulted in expenditures in total capital of about $ 20 billion from an initial estimate of $ 2.3 billion.

Venezuela's PDVSA subsequently abandoned the project, which had been partially concluded in 2014.