Involved in Lava Jato, ex-Odebrecht and Andrade Gutierrez will play works by Abreu e Lima

Two subsidiaries of the construction companies Andrade Gutierrez and Novonor (formerly Odebrecht) won the bid for new works at the Abreu e Lima Refinery (Rnest), in Pernambuco, dubbed as the “most expensive in the world” and the pivot of the Operation Lava Jato investigations. The result of the process was announced last Friday (15) in a contract worth R$8.7 billion.

The bidding for seven lots is part of an investment announced by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and the president of Petrobras, Jean Paul Prates, at the beginning of the year, for the “resumption of investments” by the state-owned company in the refinery. The expectation is that the works will begin in the second half of the year.

Andrade Gutierrez, through its subsidiary Consag, won two lots valued at R$3.7 billion, while Tenenge, a Novonor company, won three lots valued at R$5 billion. There are still two others won by a third company, according to the Estadão.

Petrobras can still review lot prices and carry out a new bidding process, known as a “rebid”, if necessary. However, the company states that the proposals are being analyzed by the Tender Committee and there is still no confirmation on possible changes to the contracts.

Since the launch of Operation Lava Jato and the signing of leniency agreements, the two contractors have had operational limitations. Odebrecht, for example, was prevented from participating in the oil company’s bids from 2018 until last year. Andrade Gutierrez, released in 2017, had not won any relevant public contract since then.

The billion-dollar works in Abreu and Lima aim to expand the production capacity of S10 diesel from the current 100 thousand to 260 thousand barrels per day. The project has the potential to generate up to 30 thousand direct and indirect jobs, with the aim of ensuring fuel self-sufficiency in the country. The works are expected to be completed by 2028.

The Abreu e Lima Refinery was a symbol of corruption in the PT governments of Lula and Dilma Rousseff. Initially conceived as a partnership between Petrobras and the Venezuelan state-owned company PDVSA, the refinery became an exclusive Petrobras venture after the Venezuelans withdrew due to high operating costs.

The final cost of the project, initially estimated at US$2.3 billion, ballooned to around US$18 billion, becoming a central point in the Lava Jato investigation.

During the construction resumption ceremony in January, Lula criticized Lava Jato and stated that there was a “collusion between some judges in this country and the United States”.

“The story will still be told, because you know that, many times, history still takes years, decades and even centuries for us to know the truth. But I will say one thing as president of the Republic of this country: everything that happened in this country was a collusion between some judges in this country, some prosecutors in this country subordinate to the United States Department of Justice, who wanted and never accepted Brazil having a company like Petrobras”, he said at the time.