YPF Said to Be Potential Bidder for Petrobras Argentine Assets

YPF SA (YPF), Argentina’s largest energy company, will bid for any assets that Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PETR4) wants to sell in Argentina, a YPF official said today.

Petrobras, as the state-controlled company is known, announced in June it’s seeking to raise as much as $14.8 billion through asset sales and restructuring to fund deep-water oil discoveries in Brazil. The plan includes selling its Argentine controlled companies, including a 28.5 percent stake in Refinor SA, Reuters reported Nov. 29.

The YPF official, who can’t be named because of company policy, said the Buenos Aires-based company would bid given its importance in the local energy market.

Tarsicio Lima, a Petrobras press official, declined to comment in a telephone interview from Rio de Janeiro and in an e-mail. Alejandro Di Lazzaro, a YPF spokesman, declined to comment in an e-mail.

To contact the reporter on this story: Pablo Gonzalez in Buenos Aires at pgonzalez49@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Attwood at jattwood3@bloomberg.net