Petrobras To Put More Key Oil Assets Up For Sale

Brazil’s state-run oil company, Petroleo Brasileiro SA, hopes to boost its value by nearly 50 percent by 2021, in part by putting more offshore oilfields up for sale.

The oil assets in question include stakes in one of Brazil’s largest oilfields, the Marlim field, parts of the Papa-Terra field, its Bolivian assets, petrochem firm Braskem SA, and its remaining stake in BR Distribuidora.

The parts of the Marlim field could fetch as much as $4 billion, while Braskem SA could net as much as $3 billion, Petrobras executives said in a presentation on Wednesday.

If Petrobras succeeds in divesting these assets, it would add billions to its existing divestment program as it scrambles to get out from under its mountain of debt and focus on deepwater exploration in the pre-salt zone, where the majority of its expenses will be focused in the coming years.

But the success of the asset sales is uncertain at best. Petrobras tried to ditch its 36 percent stake in Braskem years ago but failed. Odebrecht, the other holder of Braskem, also tried to ditch its share in the petrochemical firm. It, too, came up empty-handed.

Petrobras has a plan to reduce its gross debt to $60 billion by 2021, according to Nasdaq. It has a five-year plan to divest between $20 billion and $30 billion between 2020 and 2024, with plans to increase its production to 2.7 million barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2020, and 3.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2024.

Other parts of the company’s five-year plan include total capital expenditures of $75.7 billion, 85 percent of which will be allocated to its exploration and production segment.