FUP: Parente is to blame for the chaos.

From the Unified Federation of Oil Workers – The surge in gasoline, cooking gas, and diesel prices cannot be treated as merely a matter of taxation. It is, above all, a problem of Petrobras' management, which has been run exclusively to serve the interests of the market.

With the approval of the Temer government, the company's president, Pedro Parente, adopted an international pricing policy for the derivatives produced by the state-owned company in October 2016, without establishing any consumer protection mechanism. At the time, FUP (the Unified Federation of Oil Workers) denounced that the Brazilian people would ultimately pay the price and that the country would be held hostage by international oil crises.

Even knowing the consequences, Temer and Parente chose to satisfy the market and, in July of last year, adjustments at the refineries became daily. Since then, Petrobras has changed prices at the refineries 230 times. This resulted in increases of more than 50% in gasoline and diesel, while LPG prices saw a 60% adjustment.

Therefore, reducing taxes, which the government had already increased by 100% last year, is pointless if there isn't a structural change in Petrobras' management. Fuel prices will continue to rise uncontrollably as long as the main source of the problem remains unaddressed.

The international alignment of refined product prices is part of the dismantling of Petrobras. The objective is to privatize refineries, pipelines, and terminals, just as has already happened with the pre-salt fields, gas pipelines, subsidiaries, and dozens of other strategic assets of the state-owned company. To facilitate this handover, Pedro Parente underutilized the refining capacity and began encouraging the import of refined products by private companies.

In 2013, Petrobras had the capacity to meet 90% of domestic fuel demand. In 2017, that percentage fell to 76%. Some refineries are already operating at less than half their production capacity, as is the case with the Landulpho Alves Refinery in Bahia, one of the four units that Parente put up for sale.

Benefiting from this policy, fuel importers are having a field day. Imported derivatives already represent 24% of the national market. In other words, for every 10 liters of gasoline sold in Brazil, 2,5 liters are imported. Meanwhile, Petrobras is being reduced to a mere oil exporter, when it could fully supply the country with diesel, gasoline, and cooking gas at prices well below the international market.

Pedro Parente, who in the early 2000s, during Fernando Henrique Cardoso's government, became known as the "minister of the blackout," has once again created a trap for the people. With the flood of fuel imports, it will become more difficult to control prices because, without international parity, importers will withdraw, leaving the losses to Petrobras. If the state-owned company does not regain a prominent position in refining and distributing refined products, it will become increasingly hostage to international prices.

We are therefore facing yet another blackout imposed by Pedro Parente. A dismantling that the media is hiding, making the population think that the soaring fuel prices are simply a matter of taxation.

That's why the oil workers will hold the biggest strike in Petrobras' history. A strike that's not about wages or benefits. A strike for the reduction of cooking gas, gasoline, and diesel prices. A strike for the resumption of fuel production in Brazilian refineries and for an end to imports of petroleum derivatives. A strike against the dismantling of a company that is strategic for the nation.

Because defending Petrobras is defending the interests of the Brazilian people.

Secretariat of Communication and Press of the Unified Federation of Oil Workers/FUP