Petrobras Forms JV with Murphy in Gulf of Mexico

Brazil's state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA is forming a joint venture with Murphy Oil Company to explore oil and gas fields in the Gulf of Mexico, the Brazilian company said on Wednesday in a securities filing.

According to the filing, Petrobras, as the Brazilian company is known, will have a 20 percent stake in the joint venture, and Murphy will have 80 percent. Petrobras will receive $1.1 billion in the transaction, the filing added.

Both companies will contribute with all their producing assets in the Gulf of Mexico for the joint venture. The joint venture will have a production of 75,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day during the fourth quarter, according to the filing.

The deal is one of the few Petrobras has been able to pull off since Supreme Court justice Ricardo Lewandowski decided in June that all sales of subsidiaries should go through the Congress. The company is far from reaching its goal of selling $21 billion in assets in 2017 and 2018.

(Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer Editing by James Dalgleish)