(Bloomberg) -- Petrobras’s Chief Executive Officer Magda Chambriard poured cold water on expectations that Petrobras will buy back the Mataripe Refinery from Mubadala Capital, the investment arm of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Partners.
Chambriard told journalists on Friday that the acquisition is “not a priority” and that it is “a business like any other proposed to Petrobras.” The Brazilian oil giant is analyzing a proposal from Acelen, the company Mubadala set up to run the refinery.
“For the time being, I joke with the group that I’m accepting donations,” she said.
During a call with analysts earlier on Friday, Petrobras executives said it is completing a due diligence and the valuation of the refinery in Brazil’s northeast, while studying synergies with its refining network. Chief Financial Officer Fernando Melgarejo said it hasn’t defined the corporate model of a potential repurchase and that any deal depends on economic viability.
For investors in one of Brazil’s largest oil refineries, having Petrobras aboard would be the best case scenario. Under Acelen’s control, Mataripe has struggled to compete with Petrobras’s refineries and has accused the state-controlled company of selling it oil at elevated prices.
Petrobras has been under pressure from the FUP oil workers union to reverse the privatization of Mataripe, formerly known as RLAM, that was sold in 2021. The union says the privatization curbed domestic fuel production and led to higher diesel imports.
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