Bolsonaro says that Sachsida has a closed gate and that it defines the future of the PPI

President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) said this Thursday (26) that he handed over the Ministry of Mines and Energy to the new incumbent, Adolfo Sachsida, with a “closed door”, and that it will be up to him to define any changes in the price policy of the company. Petrobras (PPI, Import Parity Price).

“Closed gate” is a jargon used in Brasilia when the authority has full autonomy to define all the positions of the ministry or body.

“The Minister of Mines and Energy asked to leave, I put Sachsida there, and it’s my way to keep the concierge closed. I’m not going to call someone linked to or below the ministry’s hierarchical scale to ask for information. Sachsida, [tem] carte blanche,” Bolsonaro told reporters.

A week after Sachsida’s entry into the portfolio, the president changed the command of Petrobras, appointing Caio Paes de Andrade, secretary for Debureaucratization, Management and Digital Government at the Ministry of Economy.

Although appointed, Andrade should only assume the post in about 60 days.

Mônica Bergamo’s column showed that the estimate of members of the council is that the state-owned company can spend at least R$ 1 million to elect a new nominee.

The chief executive said that the delay is proof that neither he nor Sachsida are in charge of Petrobras. He also compared the change in command of the state-owned company, which is the fourth since he took over the Planalto, with his inauguration.

“The same thing as when I took over the government. Not changing anyone and staying with Temer’s minister, there’s no point in that,” he said. New changes in the directors of the state-owned company are expected by government officials.

The rampant rise in fuel prices, driven largely by the war in Ukraine, has been one of the main concerns at the Planalto Palace.

Since the beginning of the year, the state-owned company has especially come into the sights of Bolsonaro, who came to call the state-owned company’s R$44 billion profit “rape”.

Asked if there will be a change in the PPI, he said that he would leave it to Sachsida to define, but that he asked for more information about the state-owned company’s pricing.

“I had the real PPI raised. I’m a shareholder, I’m the one who has the most shares in Petrobras. I wanted to know if the refineries were working at full capacity and I didn’t have that information,” he said.

União is the majority shareholder of Petrobras.

Bolsonaro denies that the exchanges are an interference in the state-owned company, as interpreted by the market and entrepreneurs in the sector.

“I’m not going to interfere with Petrobras, because the PT has done it in the past. In addition to the robbery at Petrobras, [teve] fuel interference. Petrobras was in debt of R$ 900 billion reais, 60 times the transposition of the São Francisco River. We won’t make the same mistake.”

As Folha showed, the federal government is studying ways to avoid further increases in Petrobras prices this year in which Bolsonaro is running for reelection.

One of the measures under study would establish ranges for the international price of oil – and, if the price of a barrel varies within the delimited values, the company would not be able to make readjustments.

Another idea mentioned is a minimum interval of 100 days for readjustments – which would have avoided part of the latest increases announced by the company. This change has been debated internally since the management of Roberto Castello Branco (the first president of Petrobras in the Bolsonaro government), but has never been implemented.