Argentina: Pampa Energía gets go-ahead for takeover of Petrobras facilities

Argentina’s ministry for Energy and Mining has granted local energy company Pampa Energía the go-ahead to begin operating a series of thermal generators, recently purchased from Brazilian state-owned oil giant Petrobras. The case has raised a few alarms, however, as the purchase has not yet been formally approved by either country’s competition authorities.

Papa Argentina, after several months of negotiations, purchased the entirety of Petrobras’ Argentine holdings, valued at approximately $897 million USD, in late 2016. The sale has yet to be approved by Argentina’s competition regulator, the CNDC, and by it’s Brazilian counterpart, the CADE.

“Pampa Energía SA has informed this Secretariat that, by virtue of the process of Association Merger, it has now assumed the ownership of the installations of the following generating plants, which were already incorporated into the relevant market as GENERATING AGENTS, requesting their habilitation to continue operating under the same classification and under the same conditions as the former operator, Petrobras Energía SA” said the Ministry. The sales of Petrobras’ holdings in Argentina and elsewhere are currently the focus of Brazilian authorities as they dig into the infamous ‘Car-wash’ corruption scandal, which has dominated Brazilian politics in recent years.

Full Content: ARG Noticias

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