Brazilian state-led oil producer and refiner Petrobras expects to ramp up its divestments in the 

near term, with a series of deals expected to close by the end of April, according to Chief 

Executive Roberto Castello Branco.

"An asset-sales program already exists, but now we have a much more aggressive divestmen

t program," Castello Branco said during an event Friday at the private Getulio Vargas 

Foundation, or FGV. "I believe that in the first four months of the year, we're going to carry 

out $10 billion in divestments and we intend to do much more than this going forward." 

Petrobras currently is targeting $26.9 billion worth of sales in the 2019-2023 period, accordi

ng to the company's most recent five-year investment plan. But the company announced last 

week it would expand the sales to additional onshore and shallow-water mature oil and 

natural gas fields, midstream and downstream assets. The fresh assets are part of the 

company's new resiliency plan, Petrobras said.

While the sales target appears aggressive given Petrobras' failure to meet its 2017-2018 

divestment goal and pending legal challenges to the sales, the company has enough assets 

currently in the binding phase of negotiations to quickly make good on Castello Branco's 

forecast.