By Brazil Stock Guide – The race for gas-fired power assets owned by Petrobras has drawn two of Brazil’s most aggressive consolidators into a direct contest. Âmbar Energia, controlled by the J&F group, and Eneva are competing for a portfolio of thermal plants valued at roughly R$8 billion, according to a report by O Globo.
The newspaper said the transaction could vault the winner into a leadership position in Brazil’s gas-based power generation, but it did not specify which assets are included. Petrobras did not comment on the report and has made no official statement on any potential sale.
While the original report stops short of naming individual plants, Petrobras’ thermal portfolio historically comprises several large, strategically located gas-fired units that market participants routinely cite as natural candidates for divestment or portfolio reshuffling. Among them are TermoRio, in Duque de Caxias, one of the country’s largest combined-cycle facilities; Termomacaé, in Macaé; the Baixada Fluminense plant in Seropédica; and Canoas (Sepé Tiaraju) in southern Brazil. The group also includes Ibirité in Minas Gerais, Piratininga and Nova Piratininga in São Paulo state, as well as northeastern assets such as TermoCeará and TermoBahia.
For Petrobras, a sale would be consistent with its broader strategy of trimming exposure to power generation while refocusing capital on upstream oil and gas, refining and selective energy-transition projects.
For Âmbar, acquiring the plants would represent a step change in scale, accelerating the build-out of a national thermal platform that complements the group’s broader energy ambitions. Eneva, meanwhile, enters the contest with an integrated gas-to-power model that combines upstream gas production with thermal generation—an advantage often cited by investors in a market still marked by bottlenecks in gas supply and infrastructure. The company’s board includes banker André Esteves, linked to BTG Pactual.
Even without an official asset list, the talks underscore a structural shift in Brazil’s power sector. As Petrobras steps back from direct operation, private groups with balance-sheet capacity and regulatory leverage are moving to consolidate gas-fired generation—less as a growth engine than as the backbone of grid stability in an increasingly renewable-heavy system.
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