RIO DE JANEIRO–Brazilian state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PBR, PETR4.BR), or Petrobras, late Friday finally pulled the plug on a refinery joint venture with erstwhile Venezuelan partner Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PdVSA. While the firm failed to call PdVSA by name, Petrobras said that negotiations with “interested parties” had failed to reach an agreement within a fixed time-frame. The Abreu e Lima refinery under construction in Brazil’s Pernambuco state was incorporated, making it easier to find potential partners, Petrobras said. The $17 billion refinery project was beset with bickering and delays between Petrobras and PdVSA since the project was first launched in March 2008, as part of bilateral agreements signed between then-presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Hugo Chavez. Petrobras, however, pledged to build the refinery alone after PdVSA failed to get loan guarantees from the Brazilian National Development Bank to pay for the Venezuelan company’s […]