A Brazilian federal court has suspended the sale of the 66% stake held by Brazilian state-owned oil and gas company Petrobras in the offshore BM-S-8 exploration block (containing the Carcara field) to the Norwegian company Statoil. The court filed the lawsuit because no open bid was held for the sale.
The US$2.5bn sale deal was closed in November 2016 and takes place in Petrobras' massive divestment program. Petrobras already spent US$1.25bn which it received from Statoil in order to pay its debt to its wholly owned subsidiary Transportadora Associada de Gas (TAG).
Statoil was expected to take operatorship but the deal is now blocked. Statoil was expecting to achieve the declaration of commerciality in 2018 and a final investment decision in 2020. The Carcara field was discovered in 2012 and is located close to the Lula field. Its recoverable reserves are expected to amount between 700 Mboe and 1.3 Gboe.
Statoil has been present in Brazil since 2001 and has interests in the Espirito Santo and Campos basins.