'Prates listened to the people of Bahia. Petrobras is close to resuming operations at RLAM,' says Deyvid Bacelar.

247 - The general coordinator of the Unified Federation of Oil Workers (FUP), Deyvid Bacelar, highlighted, in an interview with TV 247The text discusses progress in negotiations between Petrobras and the Mubadala Investment Fund for the resumption of operations at the Landulpho Alves Refinery (RLAM) in Bahia. Bacelar emphasized the role of Petrobras' president, Jean Paul Prates, who, according to him, has been listening to the demands of the people of Bahia.

"On Carnival Tuesday (13), when we were all celebrating Carnival, our colleague Jean Paul Prates was on an international trip in the United Arab Emirates, he traveled to almost all the countries in the Middle East, which have large international oil companies," said Bacelar.

During his visit to the United Arab Emirates, Prates met with executives from the Mubadala Investment Fund, which acquired RLAM during the Bolsonaro administration (PL). According to Bacelar, it was agreed that the Petrobras and Mubadala teams will intensify their work to finalize the new corporate and operational structure in the first half of 2024.

"It was agreed that, starting after Carnival, that is, from now on, there will be meetings between the Petrobras and Mubadala fund teams to move forward with what this new corporate relationship in the Landulpho Alves refinery would entail. Furthermore, Prates defined in this meeting that the operational control of the refinery, its terminals, and its logistics system that integrates all of Bahia would be done by Petrobras. Consequently, we perfectly understand that the shareholding structure will be predominantly Petrobras, that is, more than 50%+1 of the shares," informed the FUP coordinator.

"It is indeed positive news, which we celebrate. Certainly, the workers who have been with us all these years know the struggle that was waged, including strikes, mobilizations, and work stoppages, which prevented the privatization of Petrobras, but did not allow the privatization of Petrobras' first refinery in Brazil to be avoided. [The prospect of being able to reverse this] is indeed a reason for happiness; we are celebrating this news that was given to us on Tuesday and we await the next steps," he added.

The resumption of operations at RLAM is seen as a victory by FUP and its unions, who consider the privatization of the refinery a "crime against the nation." Bacelar emphasized that the struggle of the oil workers was fundamental in rebuilding the Petrobras System and preventing further privatizations.

"I congratulate President Prates on his work; he has done a good job at Petrobras and listened to the people of Bahia," Bacelar concluded. Watch the interview in the video below: