Brazil’s troubled state oil firm Petrobras has started the process of selling its refinery at Pasadena, Texas, according to Reuters.
The sale is part of Petrobras’ divestiture of assets which it is doing in a bid to improve its balance sheet after the damage caused by the huge bribes-for-inflated-contracts corruption scandal.
That web of graft is estimated to have cost the firm at least $2 billion, scarred its reputation internationally and sent numerous executives and politicians to jail.
In the case of the refinery, Petrobras subsidiary Petrobras America Inc, will soon open a non-binding phase for interested companies to express their willingness to negotiate for the 110,000 barrels per day(bpd) facility.
The refinery has been the subject of investigations over Petrobras’ 2006 purchase of the facility at an extremely inflated price.
Brazil’s audit court said the deal for the refinery, located on the Houston Ship Channel, caused Petrobras losses of around $580 million.
Interested buyers have until 23 February to request more information on the sale process.
