‘Petrobras is not interested in withholding gas’, says Prates – 06/22/2023 – Market

The president of Petrobras, Jean Paul Prates, said this Thursday (22) that the state-owned company “has no interest in withholding” the supply of natural gas to the Brazilian economy.

The statement comes amid a clash between the company’s management and the Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira. Last week, Silveira criticized the state-owned company because of the policy in force for fuel in the country.

“What obviously has to be clear is that Petrobras has no interest in withholding gas from the Brazilian economy,” said Prates in an interview with journalists in Rio de Janeiro.

According to him, Brazil “does not have gas for all segments” that demand the input at the same time, such as thermal plants, fertilizer producers and residential consumers.

“We don’t have a reserve for all of that,” declared Prates.

At an event in Rio last week, Silveira criticized the reinjection of natural gas into offshore producing wells, advocating that this fuel reach the continent to help industrial activity.

“The United States reinjects 12.5% [do gás] to be able to produce and boost oil production. Africa reinjects 23.9%. Europe, 24.7%, and Brazil reinjects 44.6%”, said the minister at the time.

“Without an explanation, and so far they have not been able to provide one, it is a completely disproportionate reinjection,” he added.

Earlier, in an interview with the Valor Econômico newspaper, Silveira had already criticized Petrobras on the subject. At the time, the minister raised his tone and even accused the company’s management of negligence.

This Thursday, Prates said that reinjection is “fundamental” for oil production in the country. “If you don’t inject, in the pre-salt fields, production drops tremendously, in quite significant volumes”, he said.

Without mentioning the minister’s name, the president of Petrobras said that “it is already a mistake” to claim that Brazil has a reinjection above the world average.

“There is no world average injection. There is oil that comes out spontaneously. There is oil in Saudi Arabia that doesn’t even have gas,” he said.

In another part of the interview, Prates stated that Brazil is even in a position to expand fertilizer production, but that “it’s no use just screaming for the newspaper”.

“No grimaces or smiles are of any use. What is of use is working together, converging, and, above all, for a government, there is no point in choosing priorities”, said the president of Petrobras.

“Without gas for all segments, and there are segments that may have substitute fuels, we are going to work on the mix instead of creating controversy where it does not exist,” he added.

Afterwards, Prates also mentioned that Petrobras will work together with the Ministry of Mines and Energy and other bodies.

The statements took place in an interview for the announcement of a cooperation agreement between the oil company and the BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development).

The bank’s president, Aloizio Mercadante, was at Prates’ side during the event. The cooperation agreement between the institutions determines the creation of a commission to evaluate topics such as energy transition, innovation and reindustrialization.