Petrobras resumes downstream divestment process

Petróleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) is resuming receipt of binding offers for its previously announced program to divest its Brazilian refining and related logistics assets following a previous delay in the process to allow potential buyers enough time to conduct thorough due diligence amid interruptions to normal business operations as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) health crisis (OGJ Online, Mar. 20, 2020).

Petrobras is scheduled to receive binding proposal packages from potential bidders on June 25 for the 333,000-b/d Refinaria Landulpho Alves (RLAM) refinery and related assets—including four storage terminals and a set of pipelines totaling 669 km—in the Recôncavo Baiano region of Bahia, the company said.

Sale of the RLAM refinery and its associated logistics assets comes as part of the downstream divestment program of Petrobras’s 2020-24 strategic plan, which first announced in April 2019, involves the sale of certain Brazilian refineries with total refining capacity of 1.1 million b/d (OGJ Online, May 2, 2019).

In addition to RLAM, the downstream sell-off includes the following locations and assets:

• In Manaus, Amazonas, the Isaac Sabbá refinery (REMAN) has a processing capacity of 46,000 b/d and includes a storage terminal.
• In Fortaleza, Ceará, Lubrificantes e Derivados de Petróleo do Nordeste (LUBNOR) has a processing capacity of 8,000 b/d and is one of the national leaders in asphalt production, as well as the only plant in Brazil to produce naphthenic lubricants.
• In São Mateus do Sul, Paraná, Shale Industrialization Unit (SIX) has an installed capacity of 6,000 b/d, with assets that include a mine in one of the largest oil shale reserves in the world and a shale processing plant.
• In Pernambuco, Refinaria Abreu e Lima (RNEST) has a processing capacity of 130,000 b/d as well as the potential to double its capacity 260,000 b/d with startup of a second processing line. Assets at the site include a storage terminal and a 101-km set of short pipelines.
• In Paraná, Refinaria Presidente Getulio Vargas (REPAR) has a processing capacity of 208,000 b/d, with assets that include five storage terminals and a 476-km set of pipelines.
• In Rio Grande do Sul, Refinaria Alberto Pasqualini (REFAP) has a processing capacity of 208,000 b/d, with assets that include two storage terminals and a set of pipelines totaling 260 km.
• In Betim, Minas Gerais, Refinaria Gabriel Passos (REGAP) has a processing capacity of 166,000 b/d, with assets that include a set of pipelines of more than 720 km.

Binding phases for the sale of the seven refineries and the SIX shale industrialization unit were already under way when Petrobras made its March decision to delay the process due to the COVID-19 pandemic (OGJ Online, Jan. 31, 2020; Dec. 23, 2019; Oct. 25, 2019).

The operator has yet to publicly disclose definitive deadlines for when potential buyers must submit binding proposals for the remaining refining and logistics assets included in the divestment program.