RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Brazilian state-run energy company Petrobras teamed up with European oil majors and Chinese rivals on Monday to buy the country’s biggest-ever oil field with a lone bid at the minimum price, a disappointing outcome for a sale that was supposed to launch Brazil as a petroleum power. The auction, which proceeded as hundreds of protestors criticized the sale to private companies of the country’s natural resources, was notable because it sparked only a fraction of the appetite that was originally expected. Rather than attract multiple bidders and the many global energy players who had long expressed interest in fast-growing Brazilian discoveries, the auction for the giant offshore Libra oil area drew just one tepid bid from a consortium offering the minimum price allowed. Petroleo Brasileiro SA ( PETR4.SA ), as Petrobras is formally known, took 40 percent of the field in the auction, more […]