Petrobras selling interests in 15 Gulf of Mexico fields

Brazilian oil and gas giant Petrobras is selling its interest in a company that owns interests in 15 offshore fields in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

Petrobras informed on Monday it has started the opportunity disclosure stage (teaser), regarding the sale of the entire 20 per cent stake held by its subsidiary Petrobras America Inc. (PAI) in the company MP Gulf of Mexico (MPGoM), located in Texas, which owns offshore fields in the Gulf of Mexico.

The transaction is in line with the Brazilian company’s strategy of portfolio optimization, debt reduction, and capital allocation improvement, as it increasingly concentrates its resources in assets in deep and ultradeep waters in Brazil.

Barclays will act as a financial advisor to Petrobras for this transaction.

MPGoM is a Joint Venture Company (JV) with an 80 per cent stake from Murphy Exploration & Production Company and 20 per cent from PAI, created in October 2018, with the contribution of all oil and natural gas assets in production, located in the Gulf of Mexico, of both companies.

MPGoM holds participation as operator or non-operator in 15 offshore fields in the Gulf of Mexico along with an interest in the Chevron-operated St. Malo host platform. Out of these fields, eight are MPGoM-operated and seven are non-operated. Petrobras’ share of the fields’ production in the first half of 2021 was 11,300 bpd of oil equivalent.

In the teaser, Petrobras said that prospective buyers must demonstrate an interest in entering the process by 25 October and a virtual data room will be opened for bidders that sign a confidentiality agreement.