Petrobras Advances Downstream Divestment Plans

Petrobras has signed a commitment agreement with Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) consolidating an understanding between the parties on the operator’s previously announced plan to divest its Brazilian refining assets.

The agreement provides competitive conditions encouraging new economic agents to enter the downstream market, as well as suspends the administrative investigation opened by the CADE Court to investigate alleged abuse of Petrobras’s dominant position in the refining segment, the company said.Among other related but undisclosed commitments, Petrobras, by signing the agreement, has committed to sell all eight of its Brazilian refineries with total refining capacity of 1.1 million b/d first announced on Apr. 26 based on a schedule agreed upon by the parties, according to the terms of the company’s divestment methodology, pursuant to regulatory provisions, subject to the economic-financial assessments relating to each asset, as well as the technical, legal, financial, and compliance requirements by potential buyers.

The agreement also provides that the following refineries considered as potential competitors may not be acquired by the same buyer or companies within the same economic group.

Source: OGJ