The Supreme Court of Brazil has allowed state-run oil and gas company Petrobras to sell some major subsidiaries, considering that the state-owned companies don't need congressional approval to sell their affiliates. It also reversed a May 2019 decision to block the sale of Petrobras' wholly-owned gas pipeline unit TAG (Transportadora Associada de Gás) to a consortium of the Engie and the Canadian pension fund Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec for US$8.6bn; the transaction had been announced in April 2019 and Petrobras had secured approval from the antitrust regulator, from the Supreme Judicial Court (second highest court in Brazil) and from the national solicitor-general for the sale.
This decision will allow Petrobras to continue to divest US$27bn on non-core assets by 2023, including eight Brazilian refineries with a total refining capacity of 1.1 mb/d (expected to raise US$15bn in proceeds), and its Araucaria Nitrogenos fertilizer unit. The group needs to sell non-core assets in order to reduce its massive net debt of US$73bn (as of January 2019). This decision will also pave the way for other state-owned companies, such as Eletrobras, which aims to sell some activities.