Petrobras Announces $1.4bn Sale Of African Oil Business

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(Ft.com, Andres Schipani, Neil Hume, 31.Oct.2018) — Brazil’s state-controlled oil company Petrobras agreed to sell its 50 per cent stake in an African enterprise to a consortium led by trader Vitol, the world’s biggest independent energy trader.

Vitol and its partners, Africa Oil Corp and Delonex Energy, will pay $1.4bn for the Brazilian company’s 50 per cent holding in Petrobras Oil and Gas BV (POGBV).

“Vitol has a long history of investing in Nigeria’s energy sector. We are pleased and proud to add this significant upstream asset to our infrastructure and downstream Nigerian investments,” said Vitol chief executive Russell Hardy in a statement. “POGBV has a strong non-operated portfolio, managed by Chevron and Total, and which represents circa 20 per cent of Nigerian production.”

The Brazilian national oil company owns 50 per cent of the Netherlands-based Petrobras Oil & Gas B.V, while BTG Pactual SA and the UK-based Helios Investment Partners hold the remaining stake in the venture.

The sale is part of the Brazilian company’s plan to offload $21bn assets by the end of this year to help cut one of the oil industries highest debt piles. Petrobras’s net debt stood at $73.66bn by the end of June 2018, down 13 per cent from $84.87bn at the end of last year. For Vitol, the deal marks a rare investment in the upstream oil sector.

POGBV has a participation in deepwater oil exploration blocks offshore in Nigeria — that include two producing fields, Agbami and Akpo -, that provide an average production of around 21,000 barrels of oil per day to the Brazilian giant. It also contains the Engina field, the largest ongoing oil development in the west African country, as well as the Preowei discovery.

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