Petrobras to take over Pasadena refinery in Texas
Fri Oct 31, 2008 7:01pm EDT
Reuters
Petrobras is set to take over Astra Oil Trading’s 50 percent stake in the Pasadena refinery which they jointly own in Texas, Petrobras said on Friday, after a dispute over its expansion.
The two firms disagreed over the pace of investments to expand the plant and brought their dispute to arbitrators at the International Centre for Dispute Resolution, who deemed Petrobras could exercise an option to buy Astra’s half.
The decision also gives Petrobras the option of taking over Pasadena Refining System Inc (PRSI), a firm set up to distribute crude oil and the refinery’s products.
Petrobras said a price had not yet been agreed for Astra’s share of the refinery and linked companies but it said it was already working with Astra, a unit of Belgian holding company NPM/CNP, to immediately take over operational and financial management of the assets.
Petrobras, which paid $360 million for a 50 percent stake in the refinery in 2006, has been keen to double the plant’s output to 200,000 barrels per day. (Reporting by Denise Luna and Peter Murphy; Editing by Christian Wiessner)