SAO PAULO, Oct 31 – Brazil’s Petroleo Brasileiro SA will sell its 50 percent stake in a Nigerian oil and gas exploration venture to a consortium led by top oil trader Vitol for $1.53 billion, the latest step in the state-controlled oil company’s debt reduction drive, according to a securities filing on Wednesday.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The other 50 percent stake in Petrobras Oil and Gas BV, also known as Petrobras Africa, is owned by Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual, which in a Wednesday filing confirmed a Reuters report that it would likely hang on to its portion after previously mulling a sale.
Petrobras, one of the world’s most indebted oil majors, had targeted $21 billion in asset sales for 2017 and 2018, but only succeeded in unloading $9.5 billion worth by the end of the first half
The deal involves a stake in some of two deepwater exploration blocks that are among Nigeria’s largest and lowest-cost fields. Swiss-based Vitol is expected to shoulder the largest part of the investment, spending an estimated $1 billion, according to a Reuters report in June about the oil trader’s interest..
Vancouver-based Africa Oil Corp and Delonex Energy, an Africa-focused oil company, are members of the consortium.
Petrobras earlier this year sold a 25 percent stake in Roncador, one of Brazil’s largest oil fields, to Norway’s Equinor ASA for about $2 billion.
It is also in talks to sell its TAG gas pipeline unit, probably to a group led by France´s Engie SA, for more than $7 billion, although the process has been halted by a Brazilian Supreme Court injunction.
A source with direct knowledge of Petrobras’ operations told Reuters on Tuesday that the oil company wished to obtain an additional $20 billion through asset sales through the end of next year.
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