Petrobras inks downstream sale

Divestments have struggled to get going amid tough economic conditions, but could the first refinery sale prise open the door?

Brazilian state-owned Petrobras has finally kickstarted its refining divestment programme by agreeing to offload the Landulpho Alves refinery (RLAM)—the highest capacity facility available at auction—to UAE sovereign wealth fund Mubadala for $1.65bn. The transaction remains subject to state approval but would be the first of eight Petrobras refineries scheduled for offloading. In 2019, Brazilian anti-trust regulator Cade mandated that half of Petrobras’ refining capacity—equivalent to 1.1mn bl/d—must be divested, but the NOC had made little headway on this until early February.  “The downstream divestment programme is a key part of Petrobras’ de-leveraging strategy over the next five years,”