Page 12 - LatAmOil Week 09 2021

LatAmOil BRAZIL LatAmOil

Brazilian MPs set to vote on bill allowing

third-party access to gas pipelines

THE lower house of Brazil’s National Assembly disappointing, as questions about third-party
was slated to vote earlier this week on legislation pipeline access to pipelines left Petrobras in a
permitting third parties to access the natural position to win all of the auctions. If the new bill
gas pipeline network, which has been under takes effect soon, though, the bidding process is
the monopoly control of state-run Petrobras. likely to be more competitive.
According to Argus Media, the bill was expected The distributors – Compagas (serving
to pass in the lower house, known as the Cham- Parana State), GasBrasiliano (Sao Paulo State),
ber of Deputies, but with some changes. MSGas (Mato Grosso do Sul State), SCGas
Laercio Oliveira, the congressman from Ser- (Santa Catarina State) and Sulgas (Rio Grande
gipe State who has been working to reconcile do Sul State) – are seeking to secure gas supplies
the two houses’ versions of the legislation, said at the rate of 3.5mn cubic metres per day in 2022
that the Chamber of Deputies was expected to and 2023. They also hope to find suppliers that
eliminate certain provisions approved by the can deliver up to 6 mcm per day up gas begin-
Federal Senate, the upper house, last Decem- ning in 2024. ™
ber. With the removal of these new provisions,
which uphold the rights of companies that have
secured concessions for pipeline construction
but have not begun work, the bill can be passed
in its original form, Oliveira told Argus Media.
As of press time, it was not clear whether
members of the Chamber of Deputies had voted
on the legislation. Once the bill secures final
approval in the lower house, it can be submitted
to President Jair Bolsonaro, who is expected to
sign it into law.
The legislation is coming up for debate as five
distributors serving customers in south cen-
tral Brazil launch their second joint tender for
gas supplies. The results of the first tender were Independent firms will gain access to gas pipelines (Image: EPE)

Disputes over fuel pricing

continue to simmer in Brazil

THE dispute between Brazil’s President Jair sources with knowledge of the matter told Reu-
Bolsonaro and the national oil company (NOC) ters that the presidential administration was
Petrobras over prices for diesel and other petro- looking to shift the burden to the banking sec-
leum products appears to be ratcheting up. tor. The government plans to raise taxes on the
On March 1, Bolsonaro announced plans net incomes of banks up from 20% to 23%, they
to suspend certain taxes on diesel and LPG. said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
In a video posted on social media, he said he The day after Bolsonaro’s announcement,
intended to issue a decree the following day lift- Petrobras said that it was raising refinery-gate
ing federal taxes on LPG and the tax known as prices for gasoline, diesel and LPG. It pushed
PIS/Cofins on diesel for a period of two months. prices for diesel up by 5% to the equivalent of
Bolsonaro acknowledged that the change $0.48 per litre, for gasoline up by 4.8% to $0.46
would bring revenues down but insisted that per litre and for LPG up by 5.9% to $0.54 per kg.
the government would be able to close this gap. The price hike is designed to bring Brazil’s
“We’ll take it out of somewhere,” he asserted. domestic fuel costs more into line with interna-
He did not say how this might be done, but tional markets.

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