Brazilian Petrobras close to selling stake in Nigeria’s deepwater oil blocks for $1.3bn

Brazilian state-controlled oil company, Petrobras, which holds stake in two Nigerian deepwater oil exploration blocks is said to be close to agreeing the sale of the stake for about $1.3 billion, sources close to the sale discussions have revealed on Tuesday.

Petrobras Africa, the African arm participates in two deepwater oil exploration blocks in Nigeria that contain the Akpo and Agbami producing fields and are operated by Total and Chevron respectively.

Petrobras owns 50 percent of Petrobras Africa with Grupo BTG Pactual SA holding 40 percent stake in the venture and Helios Investment Partners owning the remaining 10 percent.

It was understood Tuesday that all three shareholders would sell their stakes, valuing the venture at around $2.6 billion, according to sources not wishing to be disclosed because they were not authorised to speak on the matter.

A consortium led by Vitol SA is reported to have entered exclusive talks to acquire stakes in Petrobras Africa, emerging as a winner from a number of bidders.

Petrobas is heavily indebted and unveiled plans to sell that stake in November as part of a divestment program aiming to offload $21 billion in assets by the end of 2018.