Oil workers denounce: Parente wants to hand over all national gas pipelines.

247 - "After donating Nova Transportadora do Sudeste (NTS) to Brookfield, a Canadian investment fund, the Pedro Parente administration announced to the market the start of the privatization process of Transportadora Associada de Gás (TAG), a subsidiary that operates and manages Petrobras' gas pipelines," says FUP (Federação Única dos Petroleiros) in a statement.

"We are talking about a network with more than 4,5 kilometers of pipelines, located mainly in the North and Northeast regions, whose transport capacity is around 75 million cubic meters of gas per day," the entity continues.

In addition to disrupting Petrobras' transportation logistics, the sale of TAG will leave control over the country's gas pipelines in the hands of foreign groups. The state-owned company will have to submit to the prices and conditions imposed by multinationals, as already happens with NTS, which now belongs to the Brookfield investment fund.

According to industry experts, Petrobras will spend US$1 billion annually to use the gas pipeline network in the Southeast region. In just four years, the company will have paid in rent the value of the company's sale. For FUP (the Unified Federation of Oil Workers), "the losses will only increase, since natural gas production is growing with the exploration of the pre-salt layer, whose deposits are precisely in the Southeast."

Read the full text of the oil workers' statement:

Parente wants to hand over all of Petrobras' gas pipelines to foreigners.

After donating Nova Transportadora do Sudeste (NTS) to Brookfield, a Canadian investment fund, the Pedro Parente administration announced to the market the start of the privatization process for Transportadora Associada de Gás (TAG), a subsidiary that operates and manages Petrobras' gas pipelines. The so-called "opportunity disclosure phase" (teaser) was announced in a material fact statement on Tuesday evening, the 05th.

Under the Temer government, the dismantling of the oil company is advancing rapidly. The more than two thousand kilometers of gas pipelines that crisscross the Southeast of the country have already been handed over to Brookfield at paltry prices: US$ 4,23 billion, with US$ 2,59 billion in shares and US$ 1,64 billion in debt securities. With the sale of TAG, the Pedro Parente administration will relinquish another 4,5 kilometers of gas pipelines, located mainly in the North and Northeast regions, whose transport capacity is around 75 million cubic meters of gas per day.

Created in 2006 to unify natural gas transportation in the country, the subsidiary closed last year with net revenue of R$ 4,7 billion and operating cash flow of R$ 4,1 billion. Therefore, there are no justifications for its privatization.

In addition to disrupting Petrobras' transportation logistics, the sale of TAG will leave control over the country's gas pipelines in the hands of foreign groups. The state-owned company will have to submit to the prices and conditions imposed by multinationals, as already happens with NTS, which now belongs to the Brookfield investment fund. According to industry experts, Petrobras will spend US$1 billion annually to use the Southeast gas pipeline network. In just four years, the company will have paid in rent the value of the company's sale.

The losses will only increase, since natural gas production is growing with the exploration of the pre-salt layer, whose deposits are located precisely in the Southeast. The consumer will foot the bill, as is already happening with cooking gas, gasoline, and diesel, whose pricing policy by Petrobras favors fuel distributors and importers. And it will get even worse with the dismantling of refineries, the privatization of Liquigás, and the opening of BR Distribuidora's capital. Increasingly, the Brazilian people will be at the mercy of private oligopolies.

The privatization process led by Pedro Parente, in addition to causing serious damage to Petrobras, directly benefits the state-owned company's competitors. Consumers lose, workers lose, shareholders lose. But, most seriously, the Brazilian people are losing sovereignty and prospects for a better future, given the privatization of the main companies in the Petrobras System.