Petrobras to buy Eletrobolt for US$164mn

Brazil's federal energy company Petrobras (NYSE: PBR) has agreed to buy the 388MW Eletrobolt natural gas-fired power plant from the 17 creditor banks of bankrupt US energy company Enron for US$164mn, Petrobras said in a statement. The amount is less than the US$189mn initially agreed in August 2004 because Petrobras will now be taking over US$98.9mn of Enron's debt. Petrobras will take over the creditor banks' majority stake in the SFE association of Enron creditors that currently controls the power plant, which is valued at US$65.1mn. Eletrobolt, in Rio de Janeiro state, was one of three gas-fired merchant plants built in 2001 and 2002 to increase power supplies in the face of power rationing at the time. The agreement cancels the previous natural gas supply contract between Enron and Petrobras that forced the latter to make contingency payments whenever Eletrobolt did not raise enough revenue from power sales to cover its costs.