New minister’s criticism of Petrobras pleased Bolsonaro

The new Minister of Mines and Energy, Adolfo Sachsida, presented President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) with criticism of Petrobras’ pricing policy before being chosen for the position, which, according to allies, contributed to his appointment.

Although he does not advocate measures of direct intervention in prices, such as the granting of subsidies, Sachsida took to Bolsonaro arguments that Petrobras accounts for import costs in its calculations, despite the fact that much of the fuel sold by the company is refined in Brazil.

The practice would help explain Petrobras’ rich profit in recent periods. After a record result of BRL 106.6 billion in 2021, the company earned BRL 45.5 billion in the first quarter of this year alone.

According to Bolsonaro’s allies, the view of the then economic advisor – a card-carrying Bolsonarist and aligned with the president since the campaign period – pleased the chief executive by corroborating his idea that there are problems in the policy adopted by Petrobras.

as showed the Sheetcriticisms of the company’s pricing policy exist within the economic team and come from different technicians, but are made in a reserved manner due to the sensitivity of the topic.

The methodology takes into account the reference price of fuel in the global market, the price of freight to bring it to Brazil, cargo insurance and taxes levied on shipping.

The company uses the international benchmark because it cannot meet the entire national demand for fuel and imports part of what it sells to the domestic market.

For the economic team, the inclusion of import costs increases the prices charged by the state-owned company and increases its profit margin, while the company’s actual expenses are lower when the product is refined in Brazil.

For members of Guedes’ team, the most appropriate thing would be for Petrobras to consider FOB (“free on board” prices, free of freight or insurance costs) when calculating how much to charge internally, as this would be the remuneration obtained if the oil company exported its fuel .

Members of the Economy are rooting for an action by Cade (Administrative Council for Economic Defense), which has an investigation underway on the subject and promised to speed up the pace of investigations.

CADE, however, cannot interfere directly in pricing policy — although it has the power to impose fines or demand the abandonment of practices if it comes to the conclusion that they are abusive.

Although CADE’s investigations do not produce any effective measures, the government’s assessment is that Sachsida’s stance in touching the discussions may serve Bolsonaro’s speech that he is not to blame for the increase in fuel prices applied by Petrobras.

Communication around this issue is considered one of the knots to be untied by the government.

The president’s allies seek to disassociate him from this agenda due to the negative weight it can have on the electoral campaign. In second place in the voting intention polls, Bolsonaro intends to seek re-election to the Planalto Palace.

Switching the MME command also serves this purpose. People close to Bolsonaro believe that the chief executive’s main intention was to try to point a culprit for the rise in prices, in this case, Bento Albuquerque, now former minister of Mines and Energy, and Petrobras itself.

Sachsida was raised to the post of holder of the portfolio after Bolsonaro was angered by yet another increase in diesel prices, announced by the company last Monday (9).

The current president of Petrobras, José Mauro Coelho, took office less than a month ago, after a series of ups and downs involving the succession of Joaquim Silva and Luna – sacked from the company’s helm in the wake of a mega-increase in oil prices. fuels in March.

Coelho was appointed by Bento Albuquerque, who, after the new increase, ended up being targeted by the president in an operation described by government allies as a “fuse change” to placate the wear and tear.

An aggravating factor in keeping Albuquerque in office was the fact that his sponsor made the announcement of the readjustment shortly after the company’s earnings were announced, classified by the president as “rape”.

Bolsonaro has already expressed a desire for a quick solution to reduce fuel prices. One way out advocated by members of the center is to give a temporary subsidy to the price of diesel, which exclusively benefits truck drivers — a category that integrates the president’s support base and has threatened work stoppages.

Economics, however, maintains its position of resisting this type of policy, considering it expensive and inefficient. In this context, allies of Guedes believe that the Minister of Economy now gains an important reinforcement in the trench of this dispute.

If before Guedes fought alone to stop measures with an impact on the National Treasury coffers, now he has an allied minister to reinforce this position.

In his first act at the head of the MME, Sachsida announced a formal request to start studies to privatize Petrobras. In his statement to the press, he made a point of highlighting that he has Bolsonaro’s support for his administration.

“I have a very simple goal and guideline. I make it clear that this goal, this objective and this guideline were expressly supported by President Jair Bolsonaro,” said the new minister.

Technicians who follow the topic say, however, that this is a difficult operation to complete. In the assessment of a source with knowledge of the sector, even in a scenario with a lot of political convergence, privatization would take at least five years to complete.