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Petrobras has been significantly reducing its investments in the national territory, mainly in oil refineries, and the FUP has warned of the consequences in the current scenario of dependence on fuel imports in Brazil.
Data from the Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies (Dieese/subsection Federación Única dos Petroleiros — FUP) showed that Petrobras had the smallest presence in investments in Brazil since 2003. And, amidst a scenario of high oil prices, fuels on wednesday, (13/07), the FUP warns of Brazil's dependence on the import of products caused by the lack of financial investments by the state-owned company in the country's refineries.
Petrobras has low participation in investments in Brazil and the fuel market suffers from the need to import, warns the FUP
Petrobras' presence in the number of investments in the national territory marked the lowest number since 2003, according to surveys carried out by the FUP, and the company has been strongly reducing the investment of capital in Brazil. Federation data show that the decline in these investments has been causing a deficit in the supply of fuel in Brazil and the need for imports.
According to FUP surveys, Petrobras' total investments in Brazil amounted to R$ 9,2 billion between January and March of this year. And, within this total value, around R$ 7,2 billion were allocated to the exploration and production processes of oil and natural gas, while refining had a much smaller share, of R$ 1,3 billion. Thus, the low application of investments in oil refining in Brazil contributes to a deficit in the production of fuels derived from the product.
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The result of these low investments is already seen in the level of fuel productivity in the country, since Petrobras' production of refined products during the first quarter reached 1,73 million barrels per day.
Although this number seems high for the national market, it is still below the total of 1,85 million barrels per day for 2021. The main fuel affected by the lack of refineries is diesel, which had an average production from January to March 2022, of 684 thousand barrels per day, lower than the 726 thousand barrels per day of 2021.
FUP warns of the low participation of the State in the GFCF and shows the consequences of the lack of investments in dependence on fuel imports
In addition to proving Petrobras' low fuel productivity in Brazil, the FUP warned of the company's low participation in the index called Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF), which measures how much companies have increased their capital assets and shows if the production capacity is growing.
The company's presence in the index was only 2,2% in the first quarter of this year, a very low number compared to 2009, for example, when Petrobras investments came to represent 11% of GFCF.
These data were presented based on studies by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) and the FUP took advantage of the survey to warn about investments in fuel refineries in Brazil, since the company invested only 10,5% of the total investments in 2021 in these structures.
Thus, the Dieese/FUP economist, Cloviomar Cararine, warned of this low number regarding the total capital invested by the state-owned company: “It is the lowest amount invested in refining in the history of the company, which, with that, saw Brazilian imports of fuels increase significantly”.
In this way, the lack of investment in refineries in Brazil places the country in a scenario of strong dependence on the import of fuels such as diesel, which would not be necessary, since the country is a leader in the exploration of oil and natural gas and has a high production potential of these fuels.
