Brazil’s state-owned oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) is leading an effort to sell its African subsidiary, Petrobras Oil and Gas BV (Petrobras Africa), which holds working interests in two prolific deepwater oil exploration blocks off the coast of Nigeria.
The blocks are the 175,000 barrels per day (bpd) Akpo field and the 250,000bpd Agbami oil field operated by Total SA and Chevron Corp, respectively.
Petrobras is being joined in the sale by shareholders Grupo BTG Pactual SA and Helios Investments, it said Thursday.
Heavily indebted Petrobras announced plans this week to sell its 50 per cent stake, and began sending information on the company to potential investors.
It has been joined in the sale by BTG Pactual E&P BV, a subsidiary of investment bank Grupo BTG Pactual SA, and Helios Investments, who will offer their respective 40 per cent and 10 per cent stakes.
Grupo BTG Pactual tried to sell its stake separately earlier this year. It held talks with a group of Nigerian investors but failed to reach an agreement, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
BTG Pactual did not immediately comment.
Petrobras, the world’s most indebted oil company and focus of a massive corruption scandal, is seeking to offload $21 billion in assets through 2018 and has moved aggressively to cut debt.
Through its African subsidiary, Petrobras holds a 16 per cent stake in the Akpo field while Total holds 24 per cent.
Other participants in the oil acreage include China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) with 45 per cent interest, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) with 10 per cent, and South Atlantic Petroleum (Sapetro), an indigenous oil and gas company founded by former defence minister, General TY Danjuma, with 5 per cent.
In the Agbami field, Petrobras holds a 13 per cent working interest while Chevron, Famfa Oil founded by Mrs. Folorunsho Alakija, and Norway’s Statoil hold the balance.
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