Rio de Janeiro: A Brazilian court ordered two former Petrobras officials to pay fines totalling more than $80 million for grossly mishandling the purchase of a Texas refinery. Brazil’s Court of Accounts (TCU) found the semi-public oil giant’s former president Sergio Gabrielli and an ex-official of the state company, Nestor Cervero guilty of hurting the country’s accounts in the deal.
Petrobras bought 50 per cent of the refinery in Pasadena in 2006 from Belgium’s Astra Oil for $360 million. In 2008 it had to buy the other half because of a clause that forced it to do so if there was disagreement between the partners. In all, it paid $1.2 billion, a massive overvaluing in market terms. — AFP
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