Petrobras does not see buying back Mubadala’s Mataripe refinery as a priority at this time.
Brazil’s state-owned Petrobras revealed The company does not see a refinery buyback. Mataribi, owned by Mubadala, is a priority at the moment.
“What I can say is that the refinery is not a priority for me,” Magda Chambrillard, chief executive of Brazil’s Petrobras, told reporters during an earnings call on Friday, noting that Mubadala’s offer to buy Petrobras back was no different from other offers the company was considering, according to a report. Bloomberg.
The Brazilian oil company is analyzing an offer from Acelen, the Mubadala company it created to operate the refinery.
“The company is at a stage where it needs to evaluate the assets to determine what Petrobras can gain from the reacquisition,” the CEO of Petrobras continued.
The two companies have been in talks about the sale for months, but no clear decision has yet been reached.
The potential buyback was mooted last year when Mubadala proposed a joint investment in conventional refining and a new biorefinery that would share infrastructure with the Mataribe refinery in Bahia state, where Lula’s Workers’ Party is widely popular.
This week, the company confirmed it was in the final stages of due diligence. Petrobras owns 11 refineries that produce about 80% of Brazil’s fuel, after selling two facilities during the presidency of former President Jair Bolsonaro.
Mubadala Capital acquired the 333,000 barrels per day Mataribe refinery in November 2021 for $1.65 billion.
In September 2021, the Brazilian company signed an agreement to explore joining Mubadala in its downstream operations in Bahia, including a biorefinery that the Abu Dhabi fund estimates will require $2.5 billion in investment.
Mataribe Refinery
The Mataribe refinery, founded in the 1950s, is the second largest refinery in Brazil.
The refinery has the highest capacity to produce gasoline, diesel and other petroleum products in northern and northeastern Brazil, according to its operator, Asselin, which is owned by the UAE’s Mubadala.
