The Indian group Essar, Grupo Ultra and Sinopec are keeping an eye on the Petrobras refinery in Paraná and attentive to the STF judgment on the request to suspend the sale of the state-owned refining units

Three large companies, both Brazilian and foreign, are disputing the purchase of the Presidente Getúlio Vargas Refinery (Repar), from Petrobras in Paraná, they are: the Indian conglomerate Essar, the Ultra Group and the Chinese multinational Sinopec. Petrobras opened a new round of negotiations with those involved to receive new proposals. Petrobras announces the sale of the Araucária Nitrogenados (ANSA) fertilizer unit in the state of Paraná.

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The companies are attentive to the plenary of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) of the judgment process of an injunction requested in July by Congress to prevent the sale by Petrobras of its refineries, with the petition citing the refineries of Bahia (RLAM) and Paraná ( repair). The unfolding of the case should extend until the 25th of September.

Petrobras defends its position by saying that the sale of its refineries is based on the imposition of the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade). At the end of July, the Federal Audit Court (TCU) issued a favorable opinion on the continuation of the sale process of Petrobras' refineries.

The Indian group Essar, which has exploration operations in India and refining and fuel distribution in the United Kingdom, is a candidate to buy the Paraná refinery, as well as the Ultra Group, a Brazilian company that operates in the fuel distribution sectors controlled by Ipiranga and Raízen (from Shell and Cosan) and the Chinese multinational Sinopec.

Sale of Petrobras refineries

The state-owned company continues with its divestment program in Brazil. The expectation is that eight Petrobras refineries will be sold by next year, according to the agreement with Cade. Together, the units have 1,1 million daily oil processing capacity, around 50% of the country's refining park.

Petrobras also owns several assets for sale, such as oil and gas fields, gas pipelines, thermoelectric plants and gas distributors. In addition, the oil company has already shown its interest in disengaging from onshore and shallow water oil exploration and production.