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.
-
Brazil surprises the world by cloning a pig with human genes in an attempt to save humans with transplants, a technique with only 1% to 5% success rate, editing 3 genes, inserting 7 human genes, and impacting 48,000 patients on the waiting list.
-
With a height of 8.7 meters, the giant termite mound found in Somalia has entered history as the largest ever recorded and reveals how insects just a few millimeters tall build three-story structures.
-
Measuring about 50 cm in wingspan, the merlin, the smallest bird of prey in the world, is at risk of extinction and could disappear by 2050, according to research published in Nature.
-
With 96 rooms, 37 bathrooms, and five kitchens, the mansion of the heir to Pernambucanas is worth R$ 50 million, has a pool, two terraces, and has become the target of a legal dispute after the owner fell into a coma in 2016.
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.
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.

Seja o primeiro a reagir!