Petrobras Faces Lawsuits to Sell Assets

10/13/2017 - 11h38

More than 40% of the amount negotiated by Petrobras in its assets sale process ends up in deadlocks with courts or competition defense issues. However, despite difficulties, the state oil company states it will maintain its US$ 21 billion goal by the end of 2018.

The company faces lawsuits in court against the sale of two pre-salt fields, as well as Cade (Administrative Council for Economic Defense) proceedings related to the sale of the company Liquigás and of two petrochemical companies.

The four operations amount to US$ 5.9 billion, 43% of the US$ 13.6 billion negotiated by Petrobras last year, still according to the model now questioned by the TCU (Federal Budget Oversight Board).

After the agreement executed with the TCU, new rules were implemented and negotiations are underway for the sale of 20 new packages of assets of the company.

On Tuesday (10), Sergipe's court suspended the sale of interest in the pre-salt fields to French company Total, part of a US$ 2.2 billion operation, claiming a bidding process is required. The company will appeal the decision.

In that same State, Petrobras faces a lawsuit against the sale of the Carcará area to Statoil, for US$ 2.5 billion.

Cade was responsible for Petrobras' major setback at the end of August, by recommending a veto against the sale of Liquigás to the Ultra group, a US$ 850 million operation, due to the risk of excessive market concentration.

On Tuesday, Petrobras suffered yet another setback at Cade, which deemed the sale of Petroquímica Suape (Pernambuco) and Citepe (Companhia Integrada Têxtil de Pernambuco) to the Mexican company Alpek "complex".

Translated by ANA BEATRIZ DEMARIA

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	Ricardo Moraes/Reuters
	Brazil's Petrobras headquarters is pictured in Rio de Janeiro