It’s a fake video that tries to link Lula’s son to Petrobras and the increase in fuel

It is a fake video that claims that the price of a barrel of oil is manipulated by an international company that invests in Petrobras. It is also not true that a son of former President Lula is a partner in this company and that President Bolsonaro has set up a CPI to investigate the shareholders, who would have R$900 billion to receive.

As Comprova recently showed, the control of the oil company belongs to the Brazilian government, which holds more than 50% of the company’s common shares. He also controls the company’s board of directors — the approval of names or fuel pricing policy, for example, is defined by his members. Petrobras explains on its website that the value of oil varies according to supply and demand in the world, and the state company follows these variations.

Regarding the mention of a son of Lula, the information is also unfounded, as shown by research on the Brasil.IO website and on the Aleph platform of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. These two portals contain data on corporate structure of companies. No information was found linking the former president’s children to companies linked to the trade in oil barrels.

The other false claim in the video is about the CPI. Bolsonaro said on June 17 that he would propose a CPI to investigate Petrobras, after the state-owned company announced a new readjustment – ​​nothing related to values ​​that shareholders would have to receive.

False, for Comprova, is all content invented or that has undergone edits to change its original meaning and deliberately disclosed to spread a falsehood.

Scope of publication

Comprova investigates the most far-reaching suspicious content on social networks. Until July 1st, the video published on Helo had 4,500 interactions, with 4,100 views, 208 likes, 16 comments and 238 shares. Content posted on YouTube was deleted between the evening of June 27th and the morning of the 28th.

what does the author say

The author of the video deleted the original YouTube post and recorded a denial days after the post was posted. In this new video, he displays links from vehicles showing that it was fake news and says: “There’s the denial. Lula’s son is not the main shareholder of this company.” The author also alleges that the information about Petrobras and Lula’s son was broadcast by “various radio stations in Brazil”. He did not respond to Comprova’s requests for clarification. The person responsible for sharing the video on Helo did not respond to a comment left on the post.

How do we check

We look for official information on Petrobras shareholders, on the variation of fuel prices and the barrel of oil, and also on the companies in which the sons of former President Lula are partners through the Brasil.IO tools, which facilitates access to public databases, and Aleph from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project – Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, in Portuguese.

In addition, we have tried to identify the original author of the statements that the video contains. Finally, we got in touch with Petrobras, with the advice of former President Lula and with the author of the post.

pricing system

According to the Energy Information Administration, an independent body that produces official statistics and definitions for the US government’s energy sector, the price of a barrel of oil is defined by a series of geopolitical factors and linked to the world economy. A presentation on the agency’s official website lists the main reasons for the variation in the price of a barrel of oil in the world, such as the rhythm of production and supply in countries with the largest oil industries, consumption in rich countries and the expectations of the main financial markets. on the production and consumption of oil in the world.

The explanation is in line with what Petrobras says. According to the company, the price of oil varies because of supply and demand in the world, which impacts the price readjustments of fuels distributed by the company, which follow the variations, up and down. No information was found that points to a company that can “manipulate” the prices of a barrel of oil or fuel in Brazil, as the video says.

Comprova contacted Petrobras, which, by email, informed that “it publishes information on its website regarding the formation and composition of consumer fuel prices”. The company also sent the link to the Investidor Petrobras website, where the company’s shareholding composition is available.

The Petrobras website informs that part of the fuel prices is formed by the price charged by the company, and also by federal and state taxes, in addition to the costs of distribution and resale. The portion paid to Petrobras is responsible for 40% of the price of gasoline and 65.9% of the price of diesel, according to the company itself.

Petrobras also informs that, since 2016, the values ​​of diesel and gasoline have taken into account two factors:

1 – The PPI (International Parity Price), which links the values ​​practiced in Brazil to those existing in the international market, calculated in dollars, and which includes costs such as ship freight, internal transport costs and port fees;

2 – The margin used to remunerate risks inherent to the operation. In this case, it encompasses the volatility of the exchange rate and prices on stays in ports and profit, in addition to taxes.

shareholders and profit

Petrobras’ bylaws, which define the company’s corporate structure and activities, say that the Union must own more than half of the company’s shares, with at least 50% plus one share. The first article of the statute says that the control of the company also belongs to the Union, that is, to the federal government. The company’s shareholding composition shows that the Union holds 50.3% of Petrobras’ common shares, that foreigners (companies and individuals) hold 13.62% of Petrobras shares, and other legal entities and individuals hold another 6.3% . That is, they are smaller shares than the one that guarantees the government’s shareholding control.

A Petrobras financial performance report for 2021, published on the company’s website in February, shows that last year BRL 72.2 billion in dividends were paid to shareholders (the information is on page 15 of the report). The value is well below the R$ 900 billion mentioned in the video.

In June of this year, Estadão Verifies classified a video that claimed that Petrobras had made an advance reserve for profit distribution in 2022 in the amount of R$ 200 billion as misleading. In fact, the item in question was called “Profit Reserve”, and not all the amount is actually destined for the distribution of dividends to shareholders. Within it there are six items and the amount destined for shareholder remuneration is lower, at R$ 48.466 billion. In a note, Petrobras stated that its Financial Statements for the first quarter of 2022 have a “Profit Reserve” in the amount of R$ 208.6 billion. However, the company clarified that these resources are intended for various payments.

children of Lula

Data from CruzaGrafos, a tool developed by the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji) that gathers information from all Brazilian companies registered with the Federal Revenue, show that Fábio Luís Lula da Silva, known as “Lulinha”, is a partner in four companies: G4 Entertainment and Digital Technology Ltd.; Br4 Participacoes Ltda.; LLF Participacoes – Eireli and FFK Participacoes Ltda.

An additional search by Comprova by the name of Fábio Luís on the Brasil.IO website in the field “Partners of Brazilian Companies”, and also through the Aleph platform of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project — which gives access to government databases from several countries —, confirmed that he is a partner in four companies. Brasil.IO uses data from the Brazilian Federal Revenue Service. These companies do not have the participation of other Brazilian politicians. No information was found on the performance of these companies in the trade in oil barrels.

The search for companies owned by other sons of former President Lula also did not return any companies operating in this market or with a foreign name, as described in the video. Sandro Luis is a partner at FlexBR Tecnologia Ltda., Gasbom Cursino I and Gisan Comércio de Roupas e Acessorios Ltda. Luís Cláudio is a partner at LFT Marketing Esportivo Ltda., Touchdown Produção de Eventos Esportivos Ltda. and Lula Comércio e Serviços Fotográfica Ltda. Marcos Cláudio had 25% of the shares in the share capital of the company Flex BR, according to his accountability to the Electoral Court in 2016, the year in which he was a candidate for councilor in São Bernardo do Campo, in São Paulo. Your search for Lurian Cordeiro returned no results.

Petrobras CPI

On June 17, 2022, Bolsonaro said he would propose a CPI to investigate Petrobras, after the state-owned company announced a new adjustment. Gasoline rose 5.18%, while diesel had a price increase of 14.26%. The statement was given to Rádio 96 FM, from Natal, Rio Grande do Norte and broadcast on the president’s official Facebook profile.

He did not mention the manipulation of oil prices by any Petrobras shareholder. According to Bolsonaro, the CPI would serve to investigate “Petrobras, its directors and the members of the Board” and seek an explanation for the profit of Petrobras itself.

Until June 29, the measure had the adhesion of 139 deputies. There are 32 signatures left to install the CPI. The CPIs are provided for in § 3 of article 58 of the Constitution and have their rules detailed in Law 1579, of 1952. They are used by the Chamber as a way of exercising its inspection activity and must only investigate a determined fact and have a certain period of duration. A CPI can be created at the request of senators, deputies or jointly, when mixed CPIs are formed – therefore, although the request was made after a declaration by Bolsonaro, it is not the President of the Republic who opens commissions of this type in Congress. .

Why do we investigate?

Comprova investigates suspicious content about the covid-19 pandemic, presidential elections and public policies of the federal government that went viral on social media. In addition to being an important economic factor, the price of fuel has become an electoral agenda. The video verified here misleadingly relates the son of a former president and pre-candidate for the Planalto to the state-owned company Petrobras. Content like this can induce the population to misanalyze the subject, influencing voters’ decision at the time of the election.

In June of this year, Aos Fatos, Lupa and the website Boatos.org checked the same content and classified it as false.

In previous verifications involving the fuel price system and Petrobras, Comprova showed that the federal government is the majority shareholder and responsible for controlling Petrobras.