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Petrobras has historically been primarily responsible for the fuel refining market in Brazil by importing oil, but the privatization of the Mataripe Refinery in Bahia for the Arab fund Mubadala, in 2020, created a new milestone for the sector.
The company's CEO, Luiz de Mendonça, spoke in an interview with VEJA about the challenges faced and the role of the private sector in this process. According to Mendonça, the main challenges that the Acelen needs to face are the inconsistencies in the Brazilian regulatory and fiscal framework, since there are few promised privatizations for the private sector. However, another major obstacle was provisional measure 1157, which exempted oil only until February 28.
Without the renewal of this measure, the private refineries in Brazil would have to bear a large accumulation of PIS/Cofins credits — around 5 billion reais — making it impossible to produce the maximum fuels.
Mendonça also pointed out that there is a problem due to the government's lack of response regarding the demand for fuel exemption. The executive warned that the lack of renewal of this measure will mean higher fuel prices in the Northeast and reduced production, also harming the State of Bahia, since Acelen represents 10% of the GDP and 17% of the local ICMS.
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Acelen CEO Luiz Mendonça talks about company expansion and job creation
Despite these challenges, Mendonça believes in Acelen's ability to overcome these issues and continue advancing in its goals. According to him, if there is an improvement in the Brazilian regulatory and fiscal framework and it is possible to overcome the problems related to fuel exemption, there will be an important growth both in production and in the results of the refinery. Thus, the advances achieved by the private initiative can be maintained and expanded.
Acelen, a private Brazilian refinery, is making it possible to increase refining capacity in the country.
Recently, she was the subject of a privatization process which brought a significant amount of investment to the sector. Despite the rumors that this privatization can be reversed, there was no sign of the government trying to reverse this process.
Even so, Acelen faces other difficulties in managing the sector that need to be improved. One of them is the International Price Parity Policy. Petrobras prices, which makes it more advantageous for the company to export to China or Europe than to sell to other private Brazilian refineries.
To get around the difficulties faced by the sector and improve the national supply, Acelen has invested at the same level as Petrobras and created 1,2 jobs. According to company executives, it is healthy to have an Acelen on the market to attract new investments and modernize refining parks. Therefore, they believe that changes in Petrobras' pricing policy would not negatively affect their company, as they are very quick to readjust weekly prices depending on the international market.
In this way, despite the difficulties faced by the sector and the ghosts about the process of privatization of Acelen, there are several initiatives being taken by the company to guarantee profitable investments and stimulate the development of the Brazilian energy sector with security and transparency.
SOURCE: VEJA MAGAZINE
