Brazil’s antitrust regulator Cade has postponed a ruling on the sale of the Isaac Sabá Refinery, currently owned by state-controlled oil and gas company Petrobras, to fuel distributor Atem.
Last year, Petrobras reached an agreement to sell Atem the Isaac Sabá Refinery (or Reman), located in the state of Amazonas, for USD 189.5 million. Cade approved the sale in May this year, but it was challenged by three fuel distributors in June, forcing the regulator to decide via its tribunal.
Cade was due to hold a session to rule on the sale on Wednesday but has now postponed the case to August 17.
Back in 2019, Petrobras pledged to sell eight of its 15 refineries by 2021 as part of a deal reached with Cade to reduce the company’s monopoly over Brazil’s refining market. But Petrobras has only concluded one refinery sale since then — in 2021 it sold the RLAM refinery in Bahia to Acelen, an energy company that is part of Emirati group Mubadala Capital, for USD 1.8 billion.
Petrobras has closed deals for the sale of two other refineries — SIX in Paraná and Lubnor in Ceará — which are also awaiting Cade’s green light, and is negotiating the sale of a further three.
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