Brazilian state-owned oil company Petrobras announced that it has entered into talks with 3R Petroleum to divest its Potiguar cluster assets to the latter for more than $1bn.
The Potiguar cluster assets involved in the sale process are a set of 26 concessions of producing onshore and shallow water fields located in the Potiguar Basin, and the Clara Camarão refinery. All the assets listed in the sale are located in the state of Rio Grande do Norte.
Petrobras said that it had got binding offers from potentially interested parties for acquiring the assets. However, 3R Petroleum prevailed over them by submitting the best proposal, said the state-run firm.
The company added that the signing of the deal will be contingent on the results of the negotiations in addition to receipt of the required corporate approvals.
It stated: “Petrobras commits to the broad transparency of divestment projects and portfolio management and informs that subsequent stages of the project will reinforce it in a timely manner.”
The Brazilian national oil and gas firm had launched a non-binding phase regarding the sale of all of its stakes in the Potiguar cluster in September 2020.
The sale process had been taken up by the Brazilian firm to implement its portfolio optimisation strategy and enhance its capital allocation.
Besides, the sale of the assets will help the company to increase its resources in world class assets in deep and ultra-deep waters.
The Potiguar cluster is made up of three sub-clusters, namely Canto do Amaro, Alto do Rodrigues, and Ubarana. It consists of 23 onshore and three offshore fields.
The Ubarana sub-cluster concessions are contained in shallow waters, 10-22km off the coast of Guamaré-RN. The other concessions of the Canto do Amaro and Alto do Rodrigues sub-clusters are located on land.
The Potiguar cluster’s average production from January to August 2020 was around 23.2 thousand barrels of oil per day (bpd) and 108,000m³/day of natural gas.
On the other hand, the Clara Camarão Refinery is located in Guamaré-RN and has an installed refining capacity of 39,600 barrels per day (bpd).
3R Petroleum is a publicly-traded Brazilian company, focused on redeveloping mature fields and fields in production.
