Petrobras goes to Cade to renegotiate agreement on refinery sales – 11/28/2023 – Market

Petrobras filed requests with the antitrust agency Cade to renegotiate terms signed between both parties during Jair Bolsonaro’s government that determined the sale of oil refining and natural gas transportation and distribution assets by the company.

In the requests for renegotiation sent last Friday (24) and attached to the process, the oil company reiterated that its new Strategic Plan 2024-2028, published last week, the first under the current government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, foresees broad investments in these assets.

Petrobras also told Cade that the objective is to “act in a competitive and safe manner, maximize value capture by adapting and improving our industrial park and supply and logistics chain”, in addition to seeking self-sufficiency in derivatives, with integration vertical.

Petrobras’ new management has reiterated that it is against the sale of assets as previous administrations had been doing, while focusing on oil exploration and production in areas of high profitability.

These terms had been signed in mid-2019 and were part of a broad initiative by the federal government at the time to reduce Petrobras’ participation in the oil and gas sector, opening the way for new companies, with the prospect of more investments.

In the agreements, the oil company had committed to a schedule to divest itself of all its oil refineries outside the states of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, in addition to its natural gas transportation and distribution assets.

In the case of refineries, Petrobras sold only the Rlam, Reman, SIX and Lubnor units.

But in the case of Lubnor, the oil company rescinded the sales agreement the day before, citing failure to comply with precedent conditions within the defined period, which the buyer denies.

On Friday, the president of Petrobras, Jean Paul Prates, told journalists that the company would no longer sell refineries and that it would invest in the units to become industrial parks, including initiatives towards the energy transition.

The CEO also said on Friday that the repurchase of part of the Mataripe refinery (formerly Rlam), in Bahia, is a possibility and that the topic was under discussion with the Mubadala group, owner of the unit.

Reuters had published in September that Petrobras was studying possible ways to buy back Mataripe, but that progress in this regard would depend primarily on advances in the oil company’s negotiations with Cade.

In the case of gas, the oil company sold the NTS and TAG natural gas transmission networks in recent years, as well as Gaspetro, which held shares in several gas distributors, but wants to avoid selling its stake in TBG, which brings gas native of Bolivia.

Cade also said in a statement that it does not comment on ongoing cases.