The billionaire Arab fund Mubadala, which bought the Landulpho Alves (Rlam) refinery from Petrobras, took advantage of the changes in command at the Ministry of Mines and Energy and at the state-owned company to try to make possible, via the government, a more favorable agreement on the purchase of oil – a necessary input to produce diesel and gasoline, the refinery’s flagships.
People participating in the conversations say that the oil company has closed its doors to negotiations while the refinery tries to lower prices.
In March, President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) even mentioned Bahia in a complaint for having privatized refining and, even so, having seen higher fuel prices. At that time, the liter of gasoline reached R$ 8 in the state.
With Minister Paulo Guedes (Economy) defining the course of Petrobras together with Adolfo Sachsida — the current minister of Mines and Energy (and, previously, an advisor to Guedes) — the Arabs saw an opportunity.
Sachsida is trying to solve the problem, but has already told advisers that it is “very difficult” to force Petrobras in any aspect.
Guedes, who regained strength in the government, also signed Caio Paes de Andrade, another former advisor, as the virtual new president of Petrobras – the name is being analyzed by the company and needs to be confirmed by the board.
This strategic alignment can favor the resumption of a negotiation and, according to Planalto advisors, Guedes started to deal with the matter directly.
On Monday (6), Guedes opened the agenda to receive Mubadala representatives at Acelen, a company created to operate the refinery. The complaint was the same: under the purchase and sale agreement signed in November last year, Petrobras committed to supplying — at market prices — a part of the input needed for refining.
Acelen tells the government that the price charged by Petrobras exceeds by US$ 2 the value charged per barrel for the oil company’s exports, which would be abusive.
Despite having foreign control, Acelen is a national company. There would, therefore, be no reasons to buy the input as if it were an importer. According to the company, it has told the government, however, that two oil ships had to be imported due to the lack of material in the country.
It is estimated that the average purchase made by Acelen of inputs from Petrobras is around 300 thousand barrels per day. The US$ 2 more in each unit would therefore cause a cost increase of US$ 600,000 per day – which was transferred directly to the price of diesel and gasoline in Bahia, the main consumer hub of the refinery’s products.
The war in Ukraine, which pushed oil prices above the US$ 100 mark, was another trigger for the price markdown.
Since taking over the unit, the Arabs have been trying to find a solution. In reports to the government, they say that the doors at Petrobras have been definitively closed since the departure of General Joaquim Silva e Luna (then president of the company) at the end of March.
Petrobras denies abuse and says there are other suppliers
Petrobras denies any type of discrimination and claims that Acelen does not rely solely on the state-owned company to supply inputs.
“The parties are free to negotiate with each other or with other counterparties, and if this company decides to negotiate with Petrobras, the operations are carried out by agreement between the parties under market conditions,” Petrobras said through its advisory.
The oil company informs that there are more than 60 producers operating in the country “among which independent refiners can acquire oil without commercial or logistical restrictions”.
The company also claims that Petrobras alone accounts for less than half of the volume of oil available for commercialization in the country.
“In this way, independent refiners can meet all their oil requirements without dependence on Petrobras production. This scenario configures the existence of an open market and free competition”, says the company.
For almost six months, representatives of Acelen have been visiting the ministries’ offices in search of a way out. Recently, they presented studies and reports to the two ministers showing how Petrobras’ policy is harming their operation and suggesting that they can take the case to Cade (Administrative Council for Economic Defense) if there is no agreement.
Cade analyzes several disputes involving Petrobras
The antitrust agency is already analyzing a similar dispute, authored by the Union of Retail Trade of Petroleum Derivatives of the State of Bahia. The oil company collects almost a dozen complaints of this nature.
In June 2019, Cade signed an agreement with Petrobras that established the rules for the sale of 8 of the state’s 13 refineries.
The terms were used as a basis for a similar process in the natural gas market.
The agreement defined a period of two years for the sale of the refineries and created restrictions to try to prevent the formation of private regional monopolies in the Brazilian refining market.
One of the commitments was precisely that the state-owned company could not use its market power to practice abusive prices in the market in order to maintain its hegemony.
Rlam was the first of Petrobras’ refineries to be sold under the agreement proposed by Cade as a way of stimulating competition. The state-owned company accepted, to avoid being punished with billions in fines in lawsuits for alleged abuse of economic power.
The Arabs from Mubadala Capital paid R$ 10 billion for the plant and created Acelen, the company responsible for the operation. Under the agreement, Rlam was renamed the Mataripe Refinery.
When the agreement was closed, the then president of Petrobras, Silva e Luna, said he believed that, with new companies in the refining, the market would be more competitive, generating benefits for society.
“Petrobras will focus on five refineries in the Southeast […] with investment plans that will position it among the best refiners in the world”, said Silva e Luna.
The process of selling the other refineries remains at a standstill, waiting for a more advantageous scenario.
When consulted, the president of CADE, Alexandre Cordeiro, told the Sheet that, although they are correlated, the two processes are separate matters.
“Acelen’s lawsuit for alleged abusive pricing practices is not related to the refinery sale agreement,” he said.
Sought, the Ministry of Economy declined to comment. The Ministry of Mines and Energy and Acelen did not respond until the publication of this report.
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