Petrobras sells African oil business for $1.4 billion

RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazilian state oil company Petrobras announced the sale of its holdings in two Nigerian oil blocks for $1.4 billion, part of the ailing firm’s bid to sell off assets and raise cash.

Petrobras will sell its 50 per cent stake in the joint venture Petrobras Oil & Gas B V to a consortium led by Dutch energy trader Vitol, the Brazilian firm said in a statement. “The sale... is part of Petrobras’s partnerships and disinvestment programme, and is aligned with our 20182022 business and management plan and our ongoing portfolio management, focused on investing in pre-salt fields in Brazil,” the company said.

Petrobras Oil & Gas B V is based in the Netherlands. Petrobras’s partner in the venture is BTG Pactual E&P. Vitol’s partners in the purchase are the Africa Oil Corp and Delonex Energy Ltd. Vitol will have a 50 per cent stake and the other two partners 25 per cent each.

The blocks involved include two productive fields, Agbami and Akpo, and another field, Egina, that is in the final stages of development, Petrobras said.

Together, the fields currently produce around 21,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day for the Brazilian firm.

Petrobras has been left reeling by its involvement in a massive corruption scandal in Brazil, in which a laundry list of top politicians and business executives colluded to skim billions of dollars off its books. — AFP