With Bolsonaro, Petrobras becomes "a boutique oil company," says Senator Jean Paul Prates.

PT - Amid the most brutal fall of saving Brazilian in one hundred years and the worst. crisis sanitary center of history, the government Bolsonaro The proposal to dismantle Petrobras is moving forward, in an effort to hand over national public assets at bargain-basement prices. This warning comes from the president of the Parliamentary Front in Defense of Petrobras, Senator [Name]. Jean Paul Prates (PT-RN), which denounces the political suicidal move undertaken by the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes"Petrobras will cease to be the national benchmark in the global oil sector and will become a boutique oil company," warns the congressman.

He criticized the government's decision to continue dismantling Petrobras, with the sale of eight refineries by 2021, equivalent to almost 50% of the country's current refining capacity. Petrobras intends to sell the Abreu e Lima (PE), Xisto (PR), Presidente Getúlio Vargas (PR), Landulpho Alves (BA), Gabriel Passos (MG), Alberto Pasqualini (RS), Isaac Sabbá (AM) refineries and the Lubricants and Derivatives Refinery (CE). Jean Paul states that there is no economic justification for the company to relinquish the refineries, precisely when the world is experiencing a crisis. economic crisis unprecedented.

Currently, 86% of the production of Petrobras is concentrated in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, while the remainder is distributed among states in the North and NortheastUntil 2019, the company played an important role in development socio-economic factors in states and municipalities of both regions, but Bolsonaro's rise reduced Petrobras's activity. Jean Paul Prates He also pointed out that the fuel production and distribution market is composed of 19 refineries, 157 fuel distributors, and 40,9 gas stations. "There is no refining market in..." Brazil "And in the world," he warned. "What exists is a fuel market, which can be acquired both from local refineries and from the foreign market."

Action in the Supreme Court

In early July, the presidents of the Chamber,  Rodrigo Maia (DEM-RJ), and from the Senate, Davi Alcolumbre (DEM-AP), asked Supreme Court the granting of an injunction to prevent the sale of Petrobras refineries in  Bahia And in Paraná. The accusation is that the oil company circumvented the law to transfer assets to the private sector without legislative approval, which is prohibited by law. This Wednesday, Rodrigo Maia announced that he will withdraw from the active side of the lawsuit, after a meeting with Paulo Guedes.

The president of the Parliamentary Front in Defense of Petrobras lamented Maia's decision. "The government has been moving forward with the sale of refineries that constitute essential parts of the parent company, Petrobras."  Oil Brazilian S/A – Petrobrás, resorting to purely rhetorical subterfuges, such as the 'sale of assets' to circumvent the legal determination and evade the decision of STF“Jean Paul points out. He warns that the law requires congressional authorization for the sale of state-owned companies, and the Supreme Court has ruled that this approval is not required in the case of [the company],” he adds. privatization of subsidiaries.

The rush to dismantle Petrobras began with an investigation conducted by the Administrative Council for Economic Law (CADE), which received a complaint from the refinery union alleging that the state-owned company had abused its dominant position in the fuel market. This was in December 2018. When Bolsonaro took office, the president of Petrobras, Roberto Castello Branco, rushed to CADE to propose an agreement in which he would relinquish 50% of the national refining market, without the agency even condemning the company.

Review of the CADE agreement.

Oil market expert, economist, and former state-owned company employee, Jean Paul Prates, believes that the CADE (Brazilian antitrust authority) process and the agreement reached with Petrobras need to be reviewed. He emphasizes that CADE did not analyze the impacts of the sale of these refineries on the consumer and fuel distribution markets. The senator stresses that the risk is... formation of "uncontrollable private regional monopolies" with Petrobras' exit from the refining activity.

"It is a crime against the nation and an attack on..." national sovereignty "And to national interests," he criticizes. And he clarifies: "Cade never recommended the sale of the refineries. This was a specific process, driven by fuel importers from specific points on the Brazilian coast."

On Tuesday, July 21, Petrobras confirmed that it had sold the remaining 10% stake it still held in Transportadora Associada de Gás (TAG), a network of gas pipelines spanning 4,5 kilometers along the coastlines of Southeast and Northeast Brazil. Engie Brasil paid R$ 1 billion and acquired 65% of TAG's shares. The remaining 35% belong to the Canadian fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. In June of last year, 90% of TAG's shares were sold by Petrobras to the two groups for R$ 33,5 billion. Jean Paul says that the sale of TAG does not serve the public interest.

On Monday, July 20th, the Association of Petrobras Engineers (Aepet) warned that... pandemic do coronavirus This has had a serious impact on the development of new oil and gas exploration and production areas in Brazil and worldwide. An assessment by Rystad Energy points to a 75% drop in investments in the sector: US$47 billion, an amount that would be even lower if it weren't for the strong participation of Norway and Russia.