Dividends from Petrobras would finish unfinished works by the Lula government or buy new oil refineries, according to FUP

The Petrochemical Complex of Rio de Janeiro (Comperj) is one of the works started during the Lula government aimed at the oil, oil and gas sector, which, until now, has not even produced a barrel of oil, bringing, according to the TCU, enormous losses. to public coffers (47 billion reais). The work is stagnant and it is estimated that the value to finish, in 2022, will be more than 33 times what was budgeted at the time, reaching more than 200 billion reais.  

On this Thursday, November 03, Petrobras' Board of Directors met to determine the amount that would be paid in dividends to its shareholders, determined at a quota of R$ 3,34 for each preferred and common share, which will be divided in two installments, the first being paid in December and the second in January. The volume distributed reaches R$ 43,7 billion, or about US$ 8,6 billion. With this investment, according to analysts, the government could finish works started in previous administrations, such as those of Lula and Dilma, both from the Workers' Party (PT), which stagnated after years of investments without return. 

After the announcement of the distribution of dividends, the Single Federation of Petroleum Workers (FUP) and Anapetro declared that they would file an administrative action against the state-owned company, Petrobras, by stating that the values ​​are high and that the total amount paid by the company to shareholders exceeds R$ 180 billion in a short period of time, while investments made up to June remained at R$ 17 billion. The high price of fuel and the Brent oil value abroad are some of the reasons for the hypervaluation of shares, which have increased by 89% in the last 52 weeks, despite the fall suffered at the beginning of this week after the victory of the former PT president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. 

“Amount paid by Petrobras in dividends would make it possible to purchase oil refineries such as Rlam and Six and, therefore, optimize the economy of the oil and gas sector”

Bacelar, FUP's general coordinator, says that the amounts paid in dividends by Petrobras would allow the company to invest in the purchase of new refineries, which would optimize cash. But, instead, they carry out expressive profit sharing. In addition, the amount distributed could, in parts, terminate COMPERJ. In the end, it is estimated that to complete the works, the amount spent would be around R$ 220 billion. 

The oil company announced, however, that in case of indebtedness lower than US$ 65 billion, it should distribute an average of 60% of the difference between operating cash flow and acquisitions of fixed and intangible assets (investments).

Meanwhile, the president of Anapetro, Mário Dal Zot, is against the way in which the state-owned company divides its profits on a quarterly basis and criticizes its policy towards shareholders, implying that it is precisely due to this policy that the reduction in the net worth of the company occurs. company. 

“Vale is paying around 11% in dividends, Petrobras is around 50%, no company in the world the size of Petrobras pays that much in dividends. Apple, Google, Microsoft, Starbucks, nobody pays that in dividends, it's absurd! Oil is extracted in reais and sold in dollars and Brazilians earn in reais”, says Jadson Santos.

The cut-off date for entitlement to the two dividend installments is November 21. It is estimated that Petrobras will pay R$3,3489 per preferred and common share in circulation, with the price of R$1,67445 on December 20th and the remainder on January 19th of the next year. 

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