Brazilian minister denies privatization of oil giant Petrobras

RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's Mines and Energy Minister Fernando Coelho denied Tuesday that the government intends to propose the privatization of state-controlled oil and gas giant Petrobras.

The minister said this issue is now off the table, and the government is working on the privatization of power generation and distribution company Eletrobras and its subsidiaries.

"We are focused on Eletrobras and we are not thinking of privatizing Petrobras," he said.

Eletrobras' transformation will be finished by this weekend, with a proposal to be submitted to President Michel Temer and the Congress, said Coelho.

In addition to the reform of Eletrobras, the minister added that changes in the mining sector aim to make investments less bureaucratic.

Coelho said earlier that Petrobras' privatization could happen, but he confirmed Tuesday that its implementation is not currently being considered.

Petrobras is a semi-public Brazilian multinational leader in ultra-deepwater oil exploration, biofuels and oil distribution, with more than half of common shares directly held by the Brazilian government with voting rights.