VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Plans by Brazil's Petrobras to sell its stake in ethanol and sugar producer Guarani SA have hit a snag as the state-run oil company has not been offered enough money for the asset, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Brazil's state-run Petrobras said on Friday it shut its P-58 offshore oil production ship after the country's petroleum regulator ANP found irregularities on board the vessel, one of the company's most important offshore production systems.

By picking a banker instead of an oil executive to run Petrobras, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff appears to have recognized that the state-run company's biggest priority is to clean up its books and acknowledge how many billions of dollars it lost to a corruption scheme in recent years.

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff tapped a confidant from a state-run bank to be the next head of Petrobras on Friday, chilling investor hopes that a more independent new management team would steer the oil firm out of a huge corruption scandal.

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff urged her cabinet on Tuesday to embrace fiscal belt-tightening and other measures aimed at restoring business confidence and growth in her second term.

Brazilian state-controlled oil company Petróleo Brasileiro SA could take a charge of about 52 billion reais ($20 billion) in its delayed third-quarter results to reduce the value of some assets, a Veja magazine blog said on Monday.

PetroChina's acquisition of Lots 57, 58 and X would help the state-backed oil and gas company diversify its assets abroad, said one analyst.

GS Caltex of South Korea had cancelled a Brazilian refiner plan over profitability uncertainties, said a Reuters report.