Petrobras informs that the Board of Directors, in a meeting held today, approved new guidelines for the management of its asset portfolio.

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Image: Petrobras headquarters in Rio de Janeiro. Photo courtesy of Eric and Christian/Wikipedia.org.

The guidelines are in line with the Resilience Plan, released on 03/08/2019, being part of the preparation process of the 2020-2024 Business and Management Plan, which is expected to be approved and disclosed in the 4th quarter of 2019.

The new guidelines consider the sale of assets, with emphasis on downstream segment, including the full sale of PUDSA, a network of service stations in Uruguay, eight refineries with total refining capacity of 1.1 million barrels per day, and the additional sale of the stake in Petrobras Distribuidora (BR), with Petrobras remaining as a relevant shareholder. The downstream assets included in this divestment program are: Refinaria Abreu e Lima (RNEST), Unidade de Industrialização do Xisto (SIX), Refinaria Landulpho Alves (RLAM), Refinaria Gabriel Passos (REGAP), Refinaria Presidente Getúlio Vargas (REPAR), Refinaria Alberto Pasqualini (REFAP), Refinaria Isaac Sabbá (REMAN) and Lubrificantes e Derivados de Petróleo do Nordeste (LUBNOR).

The refineries’ divestment projects, in addition to repositioning the company’s portfolio to higher-yielding assets, will also allow for the increase in competitiveness and transparency of the downstream business in Brazil, in line with the National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP) position and recommendations of the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE). Projects will follow Petrobras’ divestment methodology and will have their main phases timely disclosed to the market.

Regarding BR Distribuidora, a secondary public offering of shares (follow-on) is under study. Currently, Petrobras’ stake in BR Distribuidora is 71%.

The guidelines are in accordance with the strategic pillars of the company that aim to maximize shareholder value by focusing on assets in which Petrobras is the natural owner, in order to improve capital allocation, increase the return on capital employed and reduce its cost of capital.

Source: Company Press Release.