NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Petrobras (PBR) - Get Report are up 2.28% to $6.51 in midday trading today as Brent crude prices rise.

Brent was up 2.86% to $61.91 at 12:16 p.m. in New York. West Texas Intermediate rose 1.49% to $50.33.

Oil prices gained Tuesday on concerns about violence in Libya, the Wall Street Journal reports.

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Reported airstrikes in Libya have led to speculation that the country could stop exporting oil, which in turn could ease a global supply glut that has weighed on the industry.

Also, analysts are encouraged by the company's plan to accelerate divestitures.

Brazil's troubled oil producer will offload as much as $13.7 billion of assets over the next two years, increasing both the size and rate of disposals as it seeks cash to ease pressure on a balance sheet stretched by huge debts and difficulties accessing capital markets.

The "more aggressive" divestment plan is a "step in the right direction" for Petrobras, Banco Santander analysts told Bloomberg.

"This announcement, in our view, reflects the new management's focus and sense of urgency in addressing the company's need to reduce leverage, preserve cash, and rationalize investments," analysts noted. "Its execution will be key and demanding," they added.

The approved divestment amounts represent a rise when compared to the $5 billion to $11 billion allocated in the 2014 to 2018 Business & Management Plan, released in February of last year.

The plan is part of Petrobras' financial planning aimed at "reducing leverage, preserving cash and focusing on priority investments, mainly oil and gas production in Brazil in areas of high productivity and return," the company said.

TheStreet Ratings team rates PETROBRAS-PETROLEO BRASILIER as a Hold with a ratings score of C-. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate PETROBRAS-PETROLEO BRASILIER (PBR) a HOLD. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed, some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, attractive valuation levels and largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including disappointing return on equity, weak operating cash flow and poor profit margins."

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

• The revenue growth came in higher than the industry average of 18.7%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 3.8%. This growth in revenue does not appear to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, displayed by a decline in earnings per share.
• PBR's debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84 is somewhat low overall, but it is high when compared to the industry average, implying that the management of the debt levels should be evaluated further. Regardless of the somewhat mixed results with the debt-to-equity ratio, the company's quick ratio of 1.30 is sturdy.
• Net operating cash flow has decreased to $6,413.00 million or 18.05% when compared to the same quarter last year. In conjunction, when comparing current results to the industry average, PETROBRAS-PETROLEO BRASILIER has marginally lower results.
• The company's current return on equity has slightly decreased from the same quarter one year prior. This implies a minor weakness in the organization. In comparison to the other companies in the Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels industry and the overall market, PETROBRAS-PETROLEO BRASILIER's return on equity is significantly below that of the industry average and is below that of the S&P 500.
• You can view the full analysis from the report here: PBR Ratings Report