Petrobras yet to decide on Valero Aruba refinery

LOS ANGELES, May 15 (Reuters) - Petrobras (PETR4.SA) (PBR.N) has not yet made a decision on whether to purchase the Valero Energy (VLO.N) oil refinery in the southern Caribbean island of Aruba, Petrobras Americas President Alberto Guimaraes said on Thursday.

No timeline on a decision has been set, said Guimaraes,

There were hints before a May 9 company board of directors meeting that a decision on the 275,000-barrels-per-day refinery would be made.

Guimaraes said the board heard a report on the refinery but no formal proposal on the possible purchase.

"We have some opportunities," Guimaraes said. "There is no formal proposal to be approved or disapproved."

He would not comment on speculation that the plant owned by the biggest U.S. refiner is valued at about $2.8 billion.

Valero bought the Aruba refinery four years ago for $627 million.

Valero Chief Executive Bill Klesse said earlier this month that the company expected by the end of 2008 to have sold four refineries, including the one in Aruba.

Valero is expected to finish repairs to a 155,000-bpd vacuum distillation unit at the plant this month, published reports have shown. It was damaged in a late-January fire.

Valero's Klesse has said the sale of the Aruba plant would conclude in the second quarter of this year.

Guimaraes said he does not think that the fire affected Petrobras' interest in the refinery in Aruba, which is north of Venezuela.

Guimaraes spoke with Reuters before he addressed Town Hall Los Angeles at The Regency Club in Los Angeles on Wednesday. (Reporting by Bernard Woodall, editing by Richard Chang)