Petrobras makes Vantage payment provision

Brazilian giant sets aside $622 million plus interest over arbitration award to US driller
Petrobras has made a provision for the full amount it was ordered last year by an arbitration panel to pay US rig owner Vantage Drilling for an early contract termination connected with the massive Car Wash corruption probe.
The Brazilian state giant as ordered in July to pay Vantage $622.02 million plus compound interest of 15.2% per annum for termination of the charter of the drillship Titanium Explorer in 2015.
The unit was drilling for Petrobras in the US Gulf of Mexico at the time and was operating under a $1.8 billion, eight-year charter deal before the oil company quashed the deal, claiming Vantage had breached its obligations under the contract.
On Thursday evening Petrobras said the provision will be recognised in its fourth-quarter results.
However, Petrobras in late August filed a motion to vacate the arbitration award, as one of the three arbitrators refused to sign the final award, claiming Petrobras was denied “fundamental fairness and due process” in the procedure.
A final hearing in Petrobras’ motion to vacate will be heard by the Federal Court in Texas on 8 March.
The contract was the centre of a corruption probe that saw Petrobras executive Jorge Zelada sentenced to 12 years and two months in jail in 2016 for corruption and money laundering after he was convicted for unduly awarding Vantage a contract in 2009.
Vantage distanced itself from the allegations, saying at the time that any illegal acts the agent may have committed were not carried out on behalf of or upon any instructions from the company.