The damage caused by Lava Jato to Brazilian engineering companies in the oil and shipbuilding sectors continues.

During Pedro Parente's tenure as president of Petrobras, he and his team prohibited Brazilian engineering companies from participating in major bidding processes.

Now, in another phase of sell-outs, under the command of Castelo Branco, Petrobras has authorized companies (shipyards) to assemble an FPSO-type platform for the mega-field of Búzios, located in the sea off the coast of São Paulo in the pre-salt layer of the Santos Basin.

Of the ten companies (EPC contractors, from the acronym EPC - Engineering, Procurement and Construction) qualified to participate in the auction for this construction/assembly project, eight are foreign, with only two from Brazil: Brasfels, a company of the Keppel Fels group from Singapore, located in Angra dos Reis, where Verolme was located, and EBR, a (50/50) partnership between the Brazilian company SOG Óleo e Gás (Setal) and the Japanese company Toyo Engineering, located in Rio Grande do Sul.

The other competitors are the giant Korean shipyards Daweo Shipbuilding, Hyundai and Samsung, Keppel itself (owner of Brasfels) from Singapore, the Japanese companies Modec and Toyo (partner of EBR), the Dutch company SBM and Technip, which although of French origin and more linked to the production of pipes, after the merger with FMC, is headquartered in London.

Búzios is one of the prime locations in the Transfer of Rights area and is situated at a water depth of 1.600 to 2.100 meters. Its first production system began operating in 2015. This FPSO is for the Búzios 6 project, which is scheduled to begin operations in 2024.

Building offshore platforms was a reality in the 90s and grew during the FHC era. During the Lula and Dilma periods, enormous efforts were made to retrain and expand Brazil's shipbuilding industry.

The country went from about 2 workers in the sector in 2003 to 82 employees by 2014, with shipyards in several coastal states, as shown in the 1014 map of the Brazilian shipbuilding industry published in this author's thesis. [1]

The Lava Jato operation ended up destroying engineering companies, but it punished those responsible for embezzlement. The process, which became known as lawfare, served as the basis for a war of interests between corporations and foreign states to regain control over the appropriation of wealth and the return to Brazil's peripheral dependence. Since 2015/2016, we have been drawing attention to this process of dismantling and surrender.[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Thus, the prime assets of the pre-salt reserves, at the height of their exposure and power (evidenced by the NSA spying, denounced by Edward Snowden), and their multi-billion dollar contracts for the construction of platforms, drilling rigs, and support vessels, were gradually expropriated. With them went hundreds of thousands of jobs, a production chain that also involves equipment, technology, and services, and billions of dollars in taxes of various kinds.

No country in the world would hand all this over so easily and without restraint. The shipbuilding and oil industries are strategic for any minimally sovereign nation-state. However, post-coup Brazil continues to shamelessly pass all this on, without anyone calling it out or seeing it as a serious case of corruption.

Everything is very well orchestrated between the judiciary, the media, and a large part of the economic elite (like the Skafs of the world) who fought for the reduction (almost elimination) of the Local Content Policy (LCP) and prefer to keep only some percentage of commission from deals in this crony capitalism, dependent, consented to, and subordinate.

The future, which is partly already the present, exposes this crime against the nation, which must be investigated.

References: 

[1] Thesis defended by the author in March 2017, at PPFH-UERJ: “The trans-scalar and multidimensional “Oil-port” relationship as a producer of new territorialities”. Available in the UERJ Thesis and Dissertation Library: http://www.bdtd.uerj.br/tde_busca/processaPesquisa.php?pesqExecutada=1&id=7433&PHPSESSID=5vd3hsifip5hdg3n1icb57l9m6

[2] Blog post from July 26, 2016. The national shipbuilding industry facing the collapse phase of the petro-economic cycle. Available at: http://www.robertomoraes.com.br/2016/07/a-industria-naval-nacional-diante-da.html

[3] Article on the Lula.com.br website on July 28, 2016. The destruction of the shipbuilding industry. Available at: https://lula.com.br/destruicao-da-industria-naval/

[4] Text published on the Aepet website on September 12, 2019. Reasons for the dismantling of Petrobras and national construction companies. Available at: https://www.aepet.org.br/w3/index.php/conteudo-geral/item/3642-razoes-do-desmonte-da-petrobras-e-das-empreiteiras-nacionais

[5] Blog post from September 20, 2016. The closure of shipyards, platforms coming from abroad and the return of the neoliberal regression of consented and subordinate dependence. Available at: http://www.robertomoraes.com.br/2016/09/o-fechamento-dos-estaleiros-as.html

[6] Blog post from August 14, 2013. Brazilian Shipbuilding Industry: orders and jobs. Available at: http://www.robertomoraes.com.br/2013/08/industria-naval-brasileira-encomendas-e.html

[7] Interview with the author at IHU/Unisinos on December 11, 2015. Port logistics infrastructure: The State co-opted by the private sector and the population at the mercy of capital. Special interview with Roberto Moraes Pessanha. Available at: http://www.ihu.unisinos.br/entrevistas/550047-infraestrutura-logistica-portuaria-o-estado-cooptado-pelo-setor-privado-e-a-populacao-a-merce-do-capital-entrevista-especial-com-roberto-moraes-pessanha

[8] Blog post from October 4, 2017. The sell-off and dismantling of what exists of the oil industry in Brazil continues: Associations in the industrial sector will legally challenge the ANP for also cutting local content requirements in projects already underway in the oil sector. Available at: http://www.robertomoraes.com.br/2017/10/segue-o-entreguismo-e-o-desmonte-do-que.html