Brazilian duo inches closer to merger as government agency gives its blessing

Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) has approved the proposed merger of two of the country’s oil and gas players, Enauta and 3R Petroleum Óleo e Gás.

After the boards of the two companies approved the incorporation of Enauta shares by 3R Petroleum and the roll-up of the 15% interest a third company, Maha Holding, has in 3R Petroleum’s subsidiary 3R Petroleum Offshore in late June, the transaction has now received a green light from CADE without restrictions.

The approval decision is set to become definite within 15 days from its publication in the Official Gazette if there are no third-party appeals or calls back from the Court of CADE.

The transaction is also conditional upon the fulfillment of certain conditions from a set of protocols and justifications for the mergers the companies’ boards approved in late May. 

This was one of the steps the two companies have undertaken since sharing the merger plan in early April, aiming to establish an independent oil and gas company, which would be “one of the largest and most diversified” in Latin America. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the pair was inked later that month.

3R Petroleum is considering partnering with another compatriot player, PetroReconcavo, on sharing natural gas infrastructure 3R owns in the Potiguar Basin, which is part of the Equatorial Margin. Under the MoU the two have signed, they have 90 days to work out the details of their infrastructure sharing.

In addition to the merger, Enauta has been busy with maintenance work on one of its floating, production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessels, Petrojarl I. The vessel working at the Atlanta field offshore Brazil underwent maintenance in May, followed by another one in June.