The Federal Regional Tribunal of Bahia (Brazil) has blocked the R$1.9bn (US$469m) sale of a 40% stake in Petrobras Gas (Gaspetro) to Japanese group Mitsui, considering that the sale failed to meet proper level of transparency required by Brazil's public tender laws.
In October 2015, Brazil's national oil and gas company Petróleo Brasileiro (Petrobras) reached an agreement with Mitsui on the sale of a stake in Gaspetro, Petrobras' subsidiary in charge of gas distribution in Brazil.
Gas distribution in Brazil consists of regional monopolies based on concessions granted by states governments. Gaspetro has equity states (from 19.5% to 100%) in local gas distribution companies (LDCs) in 19 Brazilian states, including in eight companies in which Mitsui also owns interests. The transaction will raise the number of Brazilian states served by gas companies in which Mitsui has an equity interest to 19 and the amount of gas supplied by those companies to 30 mcm/d within Brazil.