A Brazilian court has ordered energy giant Petrobras to suspend the sale of its stake in an exploratory block to Norway’s Statoil after a union demanded that there should have been an open bidding process.
The deal for Petrobras’s 66% stake in the BM-S-8 region known as the Carcara field had earlier been approved by regulators. Petrobras has already used half of the $2.5bn in proceeds it got when sealing with the deal with Statoil last November in order to pay mounting debts.
Petrobras responded to the court verdict saying it would take legal measures to defend its interests.