Petrobras to Sell RLAM Refinery to Mubadala Capital for $1.65B

Brazil’s state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA said on Monday it had agreed to sell its RLAM refinery to Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Capital for $1.65 billion, subject to regulatory approval.

Petrobras, as the company is known, also said it would not sell its REPAR refinery, in the southern state of Parana, at the current time as it considered the bids too low. It did not elaborate further but said, without giving a timeline, that it will begin a new sales process for REPAR.

Reuters reported earlier that both Ultrapar Participacoes SA and Raizen, a joint venture between Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Brazilian ethanol producer Cosan SA, had bid for REPAR.

According to antitrust rules, as Petrobras picked Ultrapar to lead negotiations for the sale of its REFAP refinery in Rio Grande do Sul state, in the same region as REPAR, its only option would be to sell REPAR to another competitor, in this case Raizen.

Petrobras said the process to divest REFAP, as well as five other refineries, namely RMAN, RNEST, REGAP, LUBNOR and SIX, was ongoing.

(Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer, Carolina Mandl and Jamie McGeever; Editing by Edmund Blair, Kirsten Donovan)