Brazilian oil rig operator Sete Brasil has filed for bankruptcy protection with the approval of a majority of its shareholders after its sole customer Petrobras failed to come up with a viable book order by Wednesday.
Sete Brasil was founded in 2010 with the purpose of building 29 offshore rigs for leasing to Brazil’s state oil firm Petrobras.
But the vast bribes-for-inflated-contracts scandal that has plagued Petrobras the past two years has also hurt Sete Brasil as Petrobras had to reduce its order to just 10 rigs.
Two weeks ago Petrobras, which has a 5% stake in the oil rig firm, tried and failed to go to arbitration to renegotiate its contract with Sete Brasil.
Other notable shareholders in Sete Brasil include Grupo BTG Pactual and Banco Santander SA.
