According to Reuters, Brazil's state-controlled oil giant Petróleo Brasileiro SA is considering selling control of fuel distribution unit BR Distribuidora SA after bidders failed to show acceptabble interest a minority stake, which was said to be between 25 percent and 40 percent, according to sources with direct knowledge of the plans. According to UBS Securities’ analysts, BR Distribuidora was worth $10 billion in 2015.

Petrobras is considering the change in strategy for the sale after three of the four bidders that delivered preliminary proposals wanted management rights or a bigger slice of voting stock, said one source, who requested anonymity because details of the plan are private. The four bidders included Canada's Brookfield Asset Management Inc and private-equity firms GP Investments Ltd and Advent International, one source said.

For two years now, Petrobras, plagued with slumping oil prices and fallout from a massive corruption probe known as "Operation Car Wash", is being forced to sell assets and cut spending. Prosecutors accuse the energy company’s top executives of taking millions of dollars as bribes from the engineering companies to inflate prices of construction contracts. Many of the executives running Petrobras units were political appointees who facilitated the scheme, the probe found. Several senior managers and Brazil’s top politicians, including former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Senator Delcídio do Amaral, have been accused of wrongdoing in the massive kickback scheme.

The sale of that unit, which has a fuel distribution market share of around 40% in Brazil, is part of the company’s massive asset divestiture program.

Petrobras expects to sell $15 billion in assets, including BR Distribuidora, units outside Brazil and even oil fields this year. About $5 billion worth of asset sales by the end of next year should be enough to allow the company to handle investment needs and coming debt expirations, according to one source.

Petrobras, with more than $130 billion liabilities, is the most indebted energy company in the global oil and gas market.