After FUP Mobilization Against Lubnor Sale, Fortaleza (CE) City Hall Sues Petrobras to Halt Refinery Privatization

The Privatization Process of Lubnor Is Not Going as Planned by Petrobras and, After FUP Mobilized Against the Sale of the Refinery, the City Hall of Fortaleza Filed a Lawsuit Against the Process Claiming the Granting of a Portion of the Municipal Area

The City Hall of Fortaleza has filed a lawsuit against Petrobras to block the sale of Lubrificantes e Derivados do Nordeste (Lubnor) and its port structures located in Ceará. After the lawsuit was made public, the Federação Única dos Petroleiros (FUP), which had already been mobilizing against the privatization of the refinery, commented on the process in a statement released last Thursday, (02/06).

City Hall of Fortaleza Files Lawsuit Against Petrobras to Block Sale of Lubnor Claiming Irregularities in the Refinery’s Granting Process

Petrobras continues its process of granting refineries to the private sector and, after the announcement of the sale of Lubnor, various entities from the oil sector mobilized against the process. Now, it was the turn of the City Hall of Fortaleza to join the mobilizations and the city administration has opened a legal action against the state-owned company to block the privatization of the refinery, which is located in the state of Ceará. 

The lawsuit was filed because the City Hall of Fortaleza claims that a portion of 30% of the area where Lubnor is located belongs to the municipality, but Petrobras did not inform about the negotiation and had not even discussed the sale process with the city’s authority, which caused an irregularity in the privatization process.

Thus, the capital’s administration also states that Petrobras offered about R$ 9 million for the portion of land, but the area would be worth four times more, valued at around R$ 40 million, causing losses to the entire state of Ceará with the sale.

In addition to the city hall, FUP had already been mobilizing against the sale of the Lubnor refinery to private initiative, arguing that Petrobras was selling the structure for much less than it is really worth and, therefore, causing a series of negative impacts on the Ceará economy. In this way, FUP also has a lawsuit filed questioning the sale of the refinery for US$ 34 million to Grepar Participações Ltda, claiming that the amount was 55% below the total market value estimate of the refinery.

FUP Releases Statement Commenting on the Lawsuit Filed by the City Hall of Fortaleza Against the Sale of the Lubnor Refinery

Since the announcement of the beginning of the privatization process of Lubnor by Petrobras, FUP has initiated its mobilization against the company and is currently seeking to block the sale of the refinery to the company Grepar Participações Ltda.

However, FUP, just like the city hall of Fortaleza, has not yet achieved results in the mobilizations against the privatization of Lubnor, but continues to strive to reach an agreement with Petrobras for the cancellation of the process.

Despite this, FUP commented on the lawsuit filed by the City Hall of Fortaleza, supporting the administration and once again mobilizing against Petrobras. The organization stated in a note: “The fact that they did not even inform about the transaction to the municipality of Fortaleza, which holds 30% of the land, can be seen as either incompetence of the current management of the state-owned company, or as bad faith from the Government once again. In addition to the problem identified by the City Hall of Fortaleza regarding Lubnor, the privatization leads to the establishment of private monopolies in the refining sector of the country, as occurred with Rlam, sold to the Arab fund Mubadala.”

Now, FUP and the City Hall of Fortaleza are awaiting the necessary measures from the Justice so that Petrobras does not continue with the privatization process of Lubnor, which involves a series of irregularities that may harm the economy of the state of Ceará in the future.