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Brazil's state-run energy company Petroleo Brasileiro (Petrobras) S.A. is not interested in acquiring Valero Energy Corporation's bunker-producing Aruba refinery, a company executive said this week.

Speaking at the Hart World Refining and Fuels Conference in San Antonio on Wednesday, Jose Carlos Cosenza, executive manager of domestic refining, said "We don't have any interest in the Aruba refinery."

The comments follow recent reports that Petrobras had renewed its interest in the Aruba refinery, which it considered buying last year. In April 2008 Petrobras was understood to have agreed to buy the Aruba refinery for approximately US$2.8 billion before a fire took place on January 25th in a vaccuum distillation unit.

The following month, Petrobras then appeared to indicate that it was in no rush to purchase the Aruba facility when Almir Barbassa, Chief Financial Officer of Petrobras said that the company had not set a deadline for a decision regarding the purchase and would be willing to pull out of the Aruba refinery deal if it felt the conditions were not right to go ahead with the purchase.

Despite being unable to sell the plant in 2008, Valero has continued to pursue a potential transaction for the Aruba refinery from where it also carries out bunkering operations.

The company has said that the potential sale of the Aruba refinery was part of the company's overall strategic review of its current refining portfolio to maximize profits for shareholders.

In his comments this week, Cosenza said he thought Petrobras should mainly invest in a domestic refinery expansion programme in order to meet an expected 3 percent annual growth in demand for motor fuels.

Petrobras is planning to spend $47.8 billion on refineries, pipelines and shipping in Brazil over the next few years, he said.