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The president of Petrobras said during a public hearing in the Chamber of Deputies, on the sale of assets by the oil company, that the Mubadala fund signaled an interest in buying oil of national origin
On June 25, a public hearing took place in the Chamber of Deputies, regarding the sales of the oil company's assets. At the meeting, the new president of Petrobras, Joaquim Silva e Luna, stated that the Arab fund Mubadala, which purchased the Landulpho Alves (Rlam) refinery in Bahia, offered to purchase Brazilian oil as raw material for the northeastern refinery. “[Mubadala] has already offered to buy Brazilian oil,” said Silva e Luna.
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The two companies are finalizing the sale of the refinery for $1,65 billion almost a year after starting exclusive negotiations for the asset, amid uncertainty in the oil market caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Rlam is the first refinery sold in Petrobras' downstream divestment portfolio
The Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade) approved the historic transaction earlier this month.
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Rlam is the first refinery sold in Petrobras' downstream divestment portfolio, and represents half of the total domestic processing capacity of 2,2 million b/d.
Short-term service and supply contracts are likely for the seven other refineries that Petrobras intends to sell by the end of the year, company executives told Argus. But with other domestic oil suppliers in the market, such as Shell and Galp, Petrobras will have more oil available for export in the coming years.
Petrobras expects its export portfolio to increase from 445.000 b/d in 2015-19 to 891.000 b/d in 2021-25, reflecting increased pre-salt production and downstream divestments.
Union questions the sale price of Rlam
Despite several court defeats, oil workers' unions and opposition politicians continue to question Rlam's selling price. Unions represented by the Single Federation of Petroleum Workers (FUP) tried to block refinery sales and pressure Petrobras to abandon the market-based pricing policy that underpins refinery sales. Such pressure is likely to increase as Brazil approaches elections at the end of next year.
At last week's hearing, Silva e Luna stated again that the company does not intend to abandon price parity with imports, and highlighted that the country depends on fuel imports. When President Jair Bolsonaro appointed Silva e Luna in mid-February, investors feared the federal government's interference in pricing policy, a possibility it ruled out.
The reserve general and former defense minister said the sale of the refineries, as part of the state-owned company's $25 billion-$35 billion divestment portfolio, will help finance pre-salt oil production and exploration campaigns from the border basins in the north of the country.
Mubadala assumes Invepar's billionaire debt and takes control of the Rio de Janeiro subway
Mubadala, an investment fund from the United Arab Emirates, will take over control of the Rio de Janeiro Metro Concessionaire, MetrôRio, in place of Invepar. The process authorizing the change, signed by Governor Cláudio Castro, was published on the 11th in the Official Gazette of Rio de Janeiro.
The Rio subway was previously under the control of Investimentos e Participações em Infraestrutura SA (Invepar), the majority shareholder of São Paulo International Airport, in Guarulhos.
According to Globo columnist Ancelmo Gois, the Arab fund helped with the restructuring of R$ 2.5 billion in debt at Invepar, in September. In exchange, it was agreed that Invepar would relinquish the concession for the subway and the Yellow Line.
However, in the case of Linha Amarela, there must be authorization from the City of Rio and the STF, where the case ended up after former Mayor Crivella took over the toll road.
Invepar, which now focuses on Guarulhos Airport, entered a crisis with the problems of OAS, which had to leave the company, after Lava Jato, in the hands of a group of pension funds.
Odebrecht articulates the sale of the petrochemical company Braskem to the sovereign wealth fund of the United Arab Emirates
The petrochemical company Braskem, a Novonor Group company – formerly Odebrech, is in the crosshairs of acquisition by the sovereign wealth fund of the United Arab Emirates, Mubadala. The negotiations are about the purchase of 50,1% of the company that is part of the Odebrecht/Novonor judicial recovery program.
Petrobras, which owns the rest of the Braskem, does not seem to oppose the deal. According to Broadcast Estadão, it is still expected that other interested parties will enter the scene, such as the Dutch LyondellBasell, which may resume negotiations for the stake in Braskem.
Braskem is the largest producer of thermoplastic resins in the Americas, with an annual volume of over 20 million tons, including the production of other chemical products and basic petrochemicals. The company operates 41 industrial units, located in Brazil, USA, Germany and Mexico, in the latter in partnership with the Mexican Idesa.
