Aiming to wait for the private initiative in relation to pre-salt exploration, the government now expects the sale of the Union's oil sharing contracts with the new bill sent to the National Congress for changes in the oil and gas sector.
According to the new bill sent to the National Congress on Thursday (09/06), the Federal Government expects a collection of R$ 400 billion with the sale of the Union's oil sharing contracts. In this way, the contracts that govern the pre-salt exploration in Brazil would be materials by private initiative with the commercialization of parts of the Union.
New bill by the Bolsonaro government provides for the sale of Union oil sharing contracts on pre-salt exploration to the private sector
Forwarded this week and awaiting a vote in the National Congress, the Bolsonaro Government’s current bill for the oil and gas sector provides for the collection of R$ 400 billion with the sale of the Union’s oil sharing contracts. This model category governs the exploration contracts for the pre-salt layer, which concentrates most of the national production of oil and gas and may be handed over to the private sector if the project is approved.
Although the government knows that there will still be some impasses to put this sale into practice, it is now awaiting the votes on the bill in the House and Senate to put it forward. The text of the bill for the sale of the Union's oil sharing contracts also includes the initiative for the privatization of Petrobras and is yet another move by the government to adopt liberalism in the oil and gas sector in Brazil.
Currently, a large part of the revenue from the Union's oil sharing contracts on pre-salt exploration goes to the Pre-Salt Social Fund, and the money is primarily destined for health and education. However, the current text of the government circulating in the National Congress determines that the amounts are not allocated to the fund and can be allocated in the public budget based on the budgetary legislative process approved by Congress.
Now, the Ministry of Economy and Minister Paulo Guedes are waiting for the votes, which still do not have defined dates to take place.
Paulo Guedes managed to sign a new bill for the sale of pre-salt exploration sharing contracts with the change of command of the MME
One of the main obstacles for the management of Paulo Guedes to carry out the bill for the sale of the Union's oil sharing contracts was the command of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, which did not agree with the concession of pre-salt exploration. . Thus, with the recent change in command of the Ministry, the Minister of Economy achieved the necessary opening to promote the initiative.
Currently, companies such as Petrobras, Shell, Total, CNPC, CNOOC, Ecopetrol, Repsol, Equinor, Exxon, Petrogal and BP have sharing contracts running in pre-salt oil exploration.
If the bill is approved by the National Congress, the Union will be authorized to sell its share in the current sharing contracts, leaving the private sector in charge of control about this regime.
Finally, the main justification of the Bolsonaro government is that the private sector would be able to deal adequately with the instability in the oil and gas sector and that production control would be more efficient: “It turns out that the Union does not have the same conditions to bear the risks of the business than the private sector, not even selling oil and natural gas with the same degree of use as the private sector”, argues the government.
