Petrobras negotiates with Arab fund to buy back part of refinery

Petrobras is evaluating the repurchase of part of the Mataripe Refinery, in Bahia, sold two years ago to the Arab investment fund Mubadala Capital.

The state-owned company reported this Friday (22) that it “received communication from Mubadala Capital proposing the formalization of recent discussions on the formation of a potential strategic partnership.”

“The initiative’s scope is business focused on traditional refining, as well as the development of a biorefinery, both in the state of Bahia”, says the Petrobras note.

According to the state-owned company, the objective of the future partnership is to strengthen the business environment in the sector and increase the supply of renewable fuels in Brazil.

“The business model to be analyzed will take into account future investments and the development of new technologies in conjunction with Mubadala Capital”, says the oil company.

The Mataripe Refinery has a processing capacity of 333 thousand barrels per day and its assets include four storage terminals, in addition to a set of oil pipelines that connect the refinery and terminals totaling 669 kilometers in length.

The integrated biorefining project, in turn, includes plants for the production of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation kerosene from vegetable oil from native crops, operating in the states of Bahia and Minas Gerais.

In 2021, the refinery was sold by the Bolsonaro government to Acelen, a company created by the Mubadala Capital fund. Mubadala is the investment arm of the sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates.

The Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, has defended the repurchase of refining units privatized by the state-owned company in recent years.

“Petrobras should evaluate repurchasing RLAM [como era conhecida anteriormente a Refinaria de Mataripe]. It is a historic asset that was part of the strategy to dismantle the Petrobras System and should never have been sold”, said the minister in September.

Petrobras said this Friday that it “will evaluate the acquisition of equity in these assets”.

“The proposal will still be subject to internal evaluation by Petrobras. The company also clarifies that any investment decisions must, within the governance established at Petrobras, go through the planning and approval processes provided for in the applicable systems”.