Page 12 - LatAmOil Week 04 2023

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Federation of Petroleum Workers urges

government to suspend Petrobras sell-offs

THE Federation of Petroleum Workers (FUP), was necessary so that Petrobras could “align
a trade union representing Brazilian oil and gas decisions with the guidelines of the current gov-
workers, is urging Brazil’s government to put a ernment.” It was making a reference to the fact
freeze on the sale of non-core assets by Petro- that the privatisation programme was started by
bras, the national oil company (NOC). Lula’s right-leaning predecessor Jair Bolsonaro,
According to a report from EPBR, FUP has who favoured proposals to let Petrobras focus
submitted a request to this effect to Minister of on development of its largest upstream assets
Mines and Energy Alexandre Silveira and Pres- in the offshore pre-salt zone. By contrast, the
idential Chief of Staff Rui Costa. In the docu- incumbent president – along with Senator Jean
ment, it asked the two officials to negotiate with Paul Prates, his hand-picked nominee for the
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on a sus- CEO’s position at Petrobras – has argued that the
pension of Petrobras’ privatisation campaign, NOC ought to develop its downstream capabili-
which is slated to continue out to 2027 under ties more fully and hang on to its refineries.
the business plan that the company approved Thus far, Prates has not given any sign that
last December. he favours the suspension of the privatisation
The union has reportedly asked Brasilia to campaign. Indeed, he has made statements to
review any and all preparations for divestment the effect that the new administration has few
of unsold assets that have yet to be offered to options for stopping or reversing asset sales that
investors during the proposed suspension. were already underway or completed when Lula
However, it also aims to postpone the comple- took office. ™
tion of transactions in cases where investors
have already signed contracts with Petrobras
but have yet to finalise the deals.
At least $4.2bn worth of assets fall into this
category, EPBR noted. These include upstream
assets such as the Potiguar, Norte Capixaba,
Golfinho/Camarupim and Bahia Terra clus-
ters, along with the Albacora Leste oilfield, all
of which have been sold to independent oper-
ators. They also include midstream assets such
as the Transportadora Brasileira Gasoduto
Bolivia-Brasil (TBG) and Transportadora Sul-
brasileira de Gás (TSB) natural gas pipeline
networks, for which negotiations have reached
the binding stage, and downstream assets such
as the LUBNOR refinery. The latter has been
sold to Grepar, a Brazilian firm, though the
deal is still awaiting approval from anti-trust
authorities.
In its request to Silveira and Costa, FUP
argued that the suspension of privatisation deals The union wants to suspend the sale of Albacora Leste to PRIO (Image: Petrobras)

CHILE
HIF to produce synthetic gasoline in March

CHILE’S Highly Innovative Fuels (HIF) is manager, told Xinhua last week that she expected
reportedly set to launch production of synthetic the plant to help Chile, along with the rest of the
gasoline at its Haru Oni plant in the city of Punta region, make the transition from fossil fuels to
Arenas in March 2023. sustainable energy. “It’s a game-changer for the
Clara Bowman, HIF’s global general transportation industry,” she said.

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 04 25•January•2023