Supreme Court Suspends Sale of Petrobras Refineries

STF Suspends Process of Selling Refineries and Gas Pipelines from Petrobras. Injunction Granted After Request from Unions

Edson Fachin, minister of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), granted an injunction suspending the process of selling Petrobras assets, such as refineries and the Araucária Nitrogenados fertilizer unit (Ansa). In an injunction granted last Friday, May 24, following a request from unions, Fachin overturned a January decision by the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) that had lifted an injunction against Petrobras’s sale of the TAG gas pipeline unit.

The judicial decision has already been communicated to Petrobras, which will appeal to maintain the divestments, a source from the state-owned company with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

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The measure also overturned a January 2018 decision by the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), which had lifted an injunction against Petrobras’s sale of the Transportadora Associada de Gás (TAG) gas pipeline unit.

With the STJ ruling, Petrobras was able to finalize an agreement last month to sell 90% of TAG to a group led by the French utility Engie for US$ 8.6 billion.

Fachin stated that the STJ decision contravened a previous determination by Ricardo Lewandowski, minister of the STF, “even if indirectly, by allowing the continuation of the asset sale procedure without the necessary and prior bidding and without the required legislative authorization.”

“I see no room for, in the absence of express legal authorization, to exempt from the constitutional bidding regime the transfer of the contract concluded by Petrobras or its joint ventures,” the ruling says.

The decision regarding the refineries also cites a previous Petrobras plan to sell 60 percent of its stakes in refining and logistics assets in the Northeast and South of the country.

At the end of April, Petrobras updated its refinery sale plan, stating that it intends to sell eight refining units.

The Sindipetro Unificado-SP, one of the unions that filed the action against the divestments, celebrated the injunction as “another victory” in its movement against privatizations at Petrobras.

Workers accuse the sale process of “a series of irregularities,” including the waiver of bidding, which they claim would violate the previous injunction from Minister Lewandowski cited by Fachin.

Petrobras conducted on May 24 and 25 its 1st oil transshipment operation through a Suezmax-class vessel at the Açu Port Complex