Petrobras plans to have divested US$10bn in the first four months of 2019. The target will depend on the potential sale of the Transportadora Associada de Gás (TAG) pipeline network by April 2019, a transaction worth US$8bn. This is part of the company's asset divestment programme, which is will entail more mature and shallow waters oil and gas fields for the upstream part. It will also include additional midstream and downstream assets.
TAG operates a 4,500-km long gas pipeline network across Brazil. Its transport capacity reaches 74.7 mcm/d, encompassing around 47% of the pipeline network in Brazil and 26% of the total domestic gas transportation capacity. EIG Global Energy in a 50-50joint venture with Mubadala Development, an Engie-led consortium and a Macquarie Group-led one would also be interesting in bidding for the TAG pipeline system.
Petrobras needs to sell non-core assets in order to reduce its massive net debt of US$73bn (as of January 2019). Over the 2016-2018 period, Petrobras divested assets worth US$20bn and could sell another US$20bn worth of assets through 2019. However, the entire privatisation of the company has been ruled out by the government so far. Petrobras has also recently announced plans to cut its operational expenditure (OPEX) by US$8.1bn in the period from 2019 through 2023 in order to improve its financial situation.