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The objective of Cade's board is to verify possible impacts and irregularities of the privatization of refineries and their contracts with Petrobras. The body will check whether crude oil prices are being raised for the privatized facilities.
New directions for the Brazilian refining sector for this Friday, (17/03). The technical area of the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade) requested more details on the contracts of Petrobras with the Mataripe (BA) and Reman (AM) and Clara Camarão (RN) refineries. The body's objective is to verify irregularities in the prices of the sale of crude oil to privatized assets, since there are rumors of favoring the state's own refineries in this purchase and sale process.
Petrobras contracts with privatized refineries for the sale of crude oil will be reviewed by Cade after possible price irregularities
Cade's technical team considered the current information on Petrobras' contracts with some of its former refineries, currently privatized, in the national fuel market to be insufficient.
Rumors about favoring the company's own assets in relation to crude oil prices are causing further discussions at the body.
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The recently privatized Mataripe (BA) and Reman (AM) refineries, in addition to the Clara Camarão Refinery (RN), which is currently undergoing sales negotiations, are the assets in question analyzed by the agency.
Cade's analysis aims to verify whether the state-owned oil company is selling crude oil cheaper for its assets, while privatized refineries receive the most expensive product.
This is a problem that has been alerted in the national fuel market, mainly by the Mataripe Refinery, in Bahia.
The process at Cade started in 2022, at the request of fuel distribution companies, to analyze the prices of fuel sold by the Mataripe Refinery, as well as to assess whether the price of crude oil sold by Petrobras to that refinery was compatible with the supplied to the company's own refineries and with the export price.
The body has already concluded the analysis regarding the prices of derivatives, but continues with the investigation into the supply of crude oil.
In addition to asking Petrobras for more information on the contracts, Cade requested a statement from the National Petroleum Agency (ANP) on the current situation.
Even with a refinery sale contract, Petrobras still has great power over the sale of crude oil to national companies
In 2019, Petrobras signed a TCC with Cade to increase competitiveness in the refining market, committing to sell eight refineries and increase competition.
Before that, the company held almost all of the national oil processing capacity. Today, independent refineries supply around 20% of the national demand for fuels, while another 60% are served by the state company's refineries and the remaining 20% are imported.
Now, the Mataripe Refinery accuses Petrobras of violating the TCC in a new Cade process that investigates possible anti-competitive practices. The refinery requested entry as a third party interested in the process, but the request was denied by the agency.
Acelen states that broad and equal access to national oil by national refiners is the main condition for building a competitive environment in refining, attracting investments to the sector and energy security in the country.
What remains for the fuel market and, mainly, for the privatized refineries, is to wait for Petrobras' next steps regarding the Cade process.
