Companhia de Gás do Espírito Santo — ES Gás, officially started operating this Monday

Petrobras Distribuidora informed the market on Monday night that it was approved at the General Assembly for the Constitution of Companhia de Gás do Espírito Santo (ES Gás), a joint-stock company between the state of Espírito Santo and BR Distribuidora.

New company — ES Gás, officially started operating this Monday with the appointment of Heber Resende as the company's president. At this meeting held on Monday, July 22, the initial share capital of the company was approved, with Petrobras Distribuidora holding 60,34% of the total capital and 49% of common shares.

ES Gás will only assume the services after signing the new concession agreement. Meanwhile, Petrobras Distribuidora will continue to operate the distribution of piped natural gas. The payment of capital by the state government and BR will take place within 12 months. The Bylaws were also approved at the Meeting and the members of the Board of Directors and Audit Committee were elected.

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The 25-year concession contract that the state government is going to sign with ES Gás, the new distribution company in Espírito Santo, should be ready in two months. The proposal, according to Governor Renato Casagrande, is to have a model already suited to the Novo Mercado do Gás, a Federal government program announced this Tuesday, which aims to break Petrobras' monopoly.

“It is very coincidental that ES Gás was created already in compliance with the new regulatory framework while several other states are trying to reverse the contracts”, said the governor.

Espírito Santo is preparing a series of changes to open up the Gas market and place it at a competitive advantage in relation to other federations. ES Gás will contribute to the State taking the lead in regulatory points that will be essential for the drop in fuel prices and to unlock US$ 10 billion in investments, approximately R$ 38 billion.

One of the most important points of the regulation is the forecast of the free consumer, a person who uses a large volume of gas in his industrial park and who will be free to build a gas pipeline to the ES Gás network.

Another important detail is that the user of this fuel will be able to negotiate the acquisition of the input directly with the producer, something that was prevented by the old system.

Settlement of domestic assets continues at an accelerated rate; this Tuesday, July 23, Petrobras, under the command of Roberto Castello Branco, sold 35% of BR Distribuidora for US$ 2,5 billion, around R$ 9 billion; with the operation, Petrobras stayed with 37% and, with that, BR Distribuidora became a private company.

Check out the new Gas model below