Page 11 - LatAmOil Week 48 2021

LatAmOil BRAZIL LatAmOil

Mercopress, meanwhile, reported that Guedes contracts to specific firms at inflated prices.
had complained that the NOC “satisfies nobody Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has said
and is a time bomb for the government.” Petro- several times that he is considering privatising
bras is likely to become even more burdensome, Petrobras.
since the “world is heading for a green and digi- Last month, he revealed that his administra-
tal economy,” he added. tion had begun evaluating options for unload-
The energy minister went on to suggest ing its stake in the firm. “This is on our radar,”
that keeping Petrobras under state ownership he said during a radio interview, according to a
could leave the door open for further incidents Reuters report.
of bribery and fraud along the lines of those Bolsonaro indicated, though, that Brasilia
uncovered during Operation Car Wash (Lava did not intend to sell the state-run firm to just
Jato), the largest corruption probe in Brazilian any bidder. “[Privatising] a company is not just
history. Federal officials found evidence dur- putting it on a shelf and whoever offers the high-
ing the investigation that Petrobras executives est bid takes it,” he commented. “It is very com-
had accepted bribes in exchange for awarding plicated.” ™

Petrobras finalises sale of RLAM

refinery to Mubadala Capital subsidiary

BRAZIL’S national oil company (NOC) Petro- Joaquim Silva e Luna said that the company
bras announced on November 30 that it had would continue to operate the 333,000 bpd
completed the privatisation of the Landulpho refinery for 15 months after the sale was final.
Alves Refinery (RLAM) in Bahia state. Mubadala has offered to buy Brazilian crude
In a statement, Petrobras said it had wrapped that RLAM can use as feedstock during that
up the sale of the oil-processing plant to MC 15-month period, he stated during a hearing in
Brazil Downstream Participações, a subsidi- the National Congress in late June.
ary of the Mubadala Capital group (UAE/Abu RLAM is located in São Francisco do Conde
Dhabi). It said it had collected a payment of in Brazil’s northern state of Bahia. It was the
$1.8bn from MC Brazil Downstream Partici- first of eight oil-processing plants slated for sale
pações and said the sum included the original this year under Petrobras’ refinery privatisation
purchase price of $1.65bn, plus $150mn in pre- programme, and the signing of the deal between
liminary adjustments “for monetary correction Petrobras and MC Brazil Downstream Partici-
and variations in working capital, net debt and pações represents the end of the NOC’s monop-
investments” prior to the closing of the sale. oly over Brazil’s refining industry.
The adjustments were made in line with the Petrobras’ privatisation campaign also cov-
sale contract, it added. That contract covers the ers the Presidente Getúlio Vargas Refinery
refinery, which has a throughput capacity of (REPAR) in Paraná State, the Alberto Pasqua-
333,000 barrels per day (bpd), as well as four lini Refinery (REFAP) in Rio Grande do Sul, the
storage terminals and a 669-km pipeline net- Isaac Sabbá Refinery (REMAN) in Amazonas,
work connecting the plant to the terminals, it the Shale Industrialization Unit (SIX) in Paraná,
noted. the Lubrificantes e Derivados de Petróleo do
Petrobras went on to say that MC Brazil Nordeste (LUBNOR) base oils plant in Ceará,
Downstream Participações was scheduled the Abreu e Lima Refinery (RNEST) in Pernam-
to transfer the refinery to Acelen, another buco and the Gabriel Passos Refinery (REGAP)
Mubadala Capital subsidiary, on December 1. in Minas Gerais. ™
The plant will now be known as the Mataripe
refinery, it said.
Acelen will accept support from the NOC
during the transition to new ownership, the
statement added. It explained that the parties
had already signed a service provision agree-
ment outlining their plans and said the two sides
were “[reaffirming] their strict commitment to
operational safety at the refinery in all phases of
the operation.”
The state-owned Brazilian firm did not dis-
close any details of the service provision agree-
ment. Earlier this year, though, Petrobras’ CEO RLAM has a throughput capacity of 333,000 bpd (Photo: Petrobras)

Week 48 02•December•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P11