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By Gram Slattery and Carolina Mandl /Reuters
RIO
Petroleumworld 10 11 2021
Brazilian state oil giant Petrobras has picked a consortium of PetroRio SA (PRIO3.SA) and Cobra, a subsidiary of France’s Vinci SA (SGEF.PA), to start talks on developing the Albacora offshore oilfield, four people with knowledge of the matter said.
The consortium’s bid was chosen over a rival offer from a group comprising private equity firm EIG Global Energy Partners with Brazil’s Enauta Participacoes SA (ENAT3.SA) and 3R Petroleum Oleo e Gas SA (RRRP3.SA), the sources, who requested anonymity, said on Wednesday.
Petrobras was now expected to enter talks for the Albacora field with the consortium led by PetroRio, the sources said.
Petrobras, formally known as Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PETR4.SA), referred Reuters to a securities filing on Thursday that said it had not made any award.
PetroRio, whose shares were up almost 4% in early trade, said in a filing on Thursday it had not been formally notified by Petrobras regarding the selection of a preferred bidder.
Cobra did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Among the rival consortium, 3R and EIG declined to comment and Enauta did not respond.
Petrobras also said in its filing on Thursday that it had decided to call for new bids for the neighboring Albacora Leste oilfield, which had also received offers from both consortiums.
The value of the Albacora and Albacora Leste bids was not immediately clear, but Petrobras said in September that offers received “could exceed $4 billion for both fields”. read more
Petrobras is selling assets to reduce debt and focus on an offshore oil producing area known as the “pre-salt” zone.
Albacora produced 43,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), according to documents released by Petrobras when the company launched the sale process in 2020. Albacora Leste produced 34,000 boepd at that time.
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Reporting by Gram Slattery and Carolina Mandl; Additional reporting by Marta Nogueira; Editing by Jason Neely and Edmund Blair from Reuters.
reuters.com /10 07 2021
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