Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras (ADR)(NYSE:PBR) CEO Pedro Parente expressed that he would be meeting the CEO of China National Petroleum Corp this month in Brazil to converse on their association to establish a refinery complex in Rio de Janeiro.
He stated that on the sidelines of an event in New York that the interest CNPC will have in the respective refinery is not yet decided. Talks between Petroleo Brasileiro, as the firm is formally identified, and the Chinese firm commenced last month. Parente added that he anticipates to have a first deal with the government on the reassessment of stakes in offshore oil blocks termed as “Transfer of Rights” areas by the close of 2017. During a panel in the same event, Fernando Coelho, who is the Brazilian Energy Minister, expressed that the government intends to conclude the discussions “as soon as possible.”
The buzz
In unrelated news, Petroleo Brasileiro reported that the company was informed that the country’s three leading pension funds would join an arbitration litigation against the state-run oil firm, adding it considered the case lacked merit. It had been conveyed pension funds Funcef, Petros Fundação and Previ Caixa de Previdência, had determined to join the litgation in which shareholders are asking for compensation against losses linked to a corruption scandal. That validated a Tuesday report in the newsprint Valor Econômico.
Petrobras restates that legislation does not back this plan, and the firm will defend itself to assure its interests and also of its shareholders. As of now the pension funds didn’t disclose the claims value, however, Valor stated that company alone projected it stands to get around $2.11 billion. Funcef, Petros and Previ showcase employees at Petrobras, Caixa Economica Federal and Banco do Brasil, respectively. Like several Brazilian pension funds, they recorded massive losses from their investments in the preceding two years, especially from owning equities of Petrobras and other firms being probed in Brazil’s ‘Car Wash’ corruption scandal.
