Petrobras suspends service after refinery default – 07/11/2023 – Market

Petrobras suspended the provision of support services to Paraná Xisto, on Monday (10). According to the FUP (United Federation of Petroleum Workers), the stoppage occurred because the company failed to make the payments due.

In November 2022, in the final stretch of the Presidency of Jair Bolsonaro (PL), the company Forbes Resources Brazil (F&M Brazil) purchased SIX (Unidade de Industrialização do Xisto), a Petrobras unit in São Mateus do Sul, Paraná.

The sale operation was completed with the payment of US$ 41.6 million (R$ 201 million at current quotations) to the state-owned company. In addition, Petrobras would receive extra amounts to operate the facilities during the transition period, which could last up to 15 months. The company Paraná Xisto was created by F&M to manage SIX.

In a note to the report, the state-owned company confirmed the suspension. “The non-fulfillment of contractual obligations by the purchasing company resulted in Petrobras triggering the service suspension clause. The measure adopted is provided for in the TSA entered into with Forbes Resources Brazil Holding SA, acquirer of Paraná Xisto, and signed in November 2022.”

“The provision of services by Petrobras will remain suspended until a mutually agreed solution is reached, based on the negotiations that will follow between the parties. Petrobras will continue to adopt all the measures under its responsibility to guarantee the maximum safety of people and facilities in which it operates in São Mateus do Sul”, continues the statement.

The suspension will not affect the salaries of Petrobras employees who worked at Paraná Xisto, according to the state-owned company informed union members.

When questioned, Petrobras declined to comment on which obligations were not fulfilled.

The total costs of supporting the transition are estimated at R$137 million, according to an excerpt from the contract revealed by journalist Leandro Demori, in the newsletter A Grande Guerra. The value, however, was an estimate and could change according to various conditions.

“We have news that, since the beginning of the contract, the buyer has not been making payments”, said Alexandro Guilherme Jorge, president of Sindipetro PR and SC. He said he is not sure what the amounts owed are.

“The buyer has neither the personnel nor the technical capacity to operate the plant. Petrobras has become a service provider, and the same employees as before [da venda] continue to work there. They [a compradora] they have some contracted workers, but they are not yet able to operate a highly dangerous plant”, says Jorge.

Thus, evaluates the unionist, the unit must be paralyzed until there is an agreement. He comments that if the company remains in default, Petrobras could foreclose on the debt by resuming the installations, which would work as a renationalization.

The FUP and other oil tanker entities are questioning the sale of SIX, as they consider the value of the business to be low, and are trying to reverse the privatization in court. “It was sold for the value of the net profit it generated in the previous year (2021). This raises great doubts that it was a flawed process, but the investigation is up to the bodies with police power”, asks Jorge.

SIX has the capacity to produce 5,880 tons per day of products such as fuel oil, LPG and naphtha, according to the Petrobras website. The site also has a refining research center. Petrobras created a shale refining technology there, a sedimentary rock that can be converted into oil and gas.

F&M Brazil, which bought SIX, is linked to Forbes & Manhattan, a Canadian bank that invests in projects in various areas, including mining and energy. When contacted, Forbes & Manhattan did not respond until the publication of this report.