Petrobras to Shed Japanese Refining Unit

Brazilian oil Petrobras is looking to sell a portion of Nansei Sekiyu, its refining subsidiary in Japan, and would be willing to sell all of it to a buyer for the right price, confirmed company officials. The company’s president Jose Sergio Gabrielli, announced the plans to sell the unit during a visit to Tokyo. Officials in Brazil declined to offer more details regarding the price or other details of the future deal, but noted that the sale is part of the company’s 2011-2015 business plan, which includes generating as much as $13.6bn in cash from divestments of assets. Petrobras has said that the “divestment” initiative seeks to enhance the company’s return on assets. Petrobras originally acquired 87.5% of Nansei in 2008 for $58.6m and bought the remaining stake two years later for an as-of-yet undisclosed sum.