Felipe Coutinho: Petrobras' 'America First' policy paralyzes Brazil.
The president of Aepet (Association of Petrobras Engineers), Felipe Coutinho, clarified the harmful content of the pricing policy which, in practice, benefits the United States more than Brazil; "This practice adopted by the Temer government takes market share away from Petrobras and causes Brazil to import derivatives from other countries, especially the United States," he denounces; watch his interview on TV 247.
TV 247 - The president of Aepet (Association of Petrobras Engineers), Felipe Coutinho, clarified in an interview with TV 247 the harmful content of the fuel pricing policy he calls "America First." "This practice adopted by the government takes market share away from Petrobras and causes Brazil to import derivatives from other countries, especially the United States," he denounced.
He emphasizes that, contrary to what Petrobras president Pedro Parente thinks, the state-owned company is not a bakery. "Energy, oil, are special, strategic commodities," he defines.
The engineer explains how the current administration weakens the state-owned company and promotes profits for US companies. "What Petrobras' management has been propagating to the mainstream media is that oil is just another commodity and could be taxed by the international market, which has a great interest in Brazilian energy resources. All this fallacy reveals that this policy does not represent the interests of the Brazilian people," he criticizes.
Coutinho explains that those who profit from the actions taken since October 2016, when Petrobras' policy was launched, are mostly American businesspeople. "The increase in the prices of refined products in Brazil has boosted imports of refined products by private companies competing with Petrobras; this import is done by traders on a global scale. Most diesel refining is done in the USA," he clarifies.
"Because of this, the policy implemented by Petrobras only serves the interests of refiners located in the United States and also the traders in Brazil itself who compete with Petrobras," Coutinho condemns.
He explains the harmful consequences of this policy. "In this way, Petrobras, which has one of its main strategic aspects in the Brazilian market, is handing over this market. Its refining park is becoming idle, reaching a quarter of Brazil's refining capacity in idleness," Coutinho reports.
Coutinho warns that Petrobras should be aligned with two basic pillars: the development and supply of the country, ensuring that the company continues to fulfill its role.
Regarding several falsehoods about the state-owned company, Coutinho states that a myth was created and gained traction in common sense. "They used this to privatize it; Petrobras was never close to bankruptcy, the company has always been extremely capable in all aspects," he concludes.
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