Brazil's OGX considers legal steps after Petronas rescinds $850 mln deal

By Editor

Nov 18, 2013 09:27 PM EST

OGX Petróleo e Gás Participações SA, the Brazilian oil producer that filed for bankruptcy protection, is reviewing legal options after Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Bhd canceled its agreed purchase of a stake in two OGX oil blocks.

OGX, controlled by Brazilian former billionaire Eike Batista, said in a securities filing late on Monday that it received notice from Petronas, as Malaysia's state oil company is known, that the latter had unilaterally rescinded the $850 million contract.

In its filing, OGX said that it is "analyzing the adoption of any potential legal measures" related to Petronas' move.

In May, Petronas agreed to buy 40 percent of the Tubarão Martelo development and an adjacent area for $850 million. Later Petronas said it might hold off on any payments because of OGX's unresolved debt issues.

The filing comes as OGX struggles to start output from Tubarão Martelo by the end of November. Last month, the company began the process of linking up the field's completed production wells to the OSX-3 floating production, storage and offloading platform, sources told Reuters at the time. 

OGX filed for bankruptcy protection on Oct. 30, after failing to convince creditors to refinance more than $5.1 billion in obligations. Petronas had set as pre-condition for the Tubarão Martelo deal that OGX first restructured its debt. 

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