MOSCOW (MRC) -- Argentina's Pampa Energia SA offered Brazilian state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA about USD1.2 billion to buy its 67.2 percent stake in Petrobras Argentina SA, said Reuters, citing a source with direct knowledge of the bid.
The board of Petrobras, as the Brazilian company is known, has approved exclusive talks with Pampa for up to 60 days. The discussions were announced earlier on Wednesday in a Brazilian securities filing.
Petrobras Argentina is among the four largest producers of oil and gas in the South American country and has extensive downstream operations, including refining, petrochemicals and electricity generation.
A final deal should be complete within two months, said the source, who requested anonymity because a final accord has not been signed.
The proposed transaction comes at a key time for Petrobras and Pampa. If completed, the sale will be one of the first major deals in Petrobras' eight-month old plan to sell USD15.1 billion of assets by the end of 2016.
Petrobras Chief Executive Officer Aldemir Bendine has said the company needs to sell the assets to shore up its troubled finances and pay debt of about USD130 billion, the world oil industry's largest.
For its part, Pampa would widen its range of energy assets, including natural gas and oil rights. It is the largest integrated power company in Argentina, generating about 8 percent of the nation's electricity.
As MRC informed earlier, Iran and Brazil are in talks about a possible Iranian investment in troubled refinery projects controlled by Brazilian state-led oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA.
Petroleo Brasileiro SA is also known as Petrobras. Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Petrobras is an integrated energy firm. Petrobras' activities include exploration, exploitation and production of oil from reservoir wells, shale and other rocks as well as refining, processing, trade and transport of oil and oil products, natural gas and other fluid hydrocarbons, in addition to other energy-related activities.
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