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Petrobras lost by law its monopoly in the oil and gas sector more than two decades ago, check out the details of the vote by the Chamber of Deputies!
The Chamber of Deputies is expected to vote on Tuesday to pass a bill that could further open up the natural gas market to private investors, breaking Petrobras' monopoly.
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If approved, the law could reduce natural gas prices, says federal deputy Laercio Oliveira, who will present the project in the Chamber. Its supporters say the law could attract 60 billion reais ($11 billion) in private investment and generate 4 million jobs.
Deputy Oliveira said he hopes the bill will be approved without changes in the Chamber. The bill would still need to be sent to the Senate for approval.
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Petrobras lost its monopoly in the oil and gas sector by law more than two decades ago, but in practice it maintained a virtual monopoly in the natural gas industry.
Petrobras began to reduce control a few years ago with the sale of assets, including thousands of kilometers of pipelines.
The reduction of Petrobras' control over the gas sector now depends on the approval of legislation that allows more private companies to enter the sector with the Chamber of Deputies.
"We have the most expensive gas in the world and this has forced hundreds of industries to close in Brazil or change the source of energy", said the legislator to Reuters, stating that natural gas costs more than twice as much here in Brazil than in the international market .
The House of Representatives project aims to reduce bureaucracy in handling concessions and construction of pipelines
Last week, the heads of Petrobras and Golar Power criticized in two webinars separated the last minute attempts to change the proposal that would be presented in the Chamber. The CEO of Petrobras, Roberto Castello Branco, said that there are private groups interested in building pipelines subsidized by governments.
“It would be a bad idea and a bad use of taxpayer money,” he said on Friday.
The project would also open up competition by changing the structure of the gas sector so that producers cannot be distributors and vice versa, Oliveira said. Petrobras closed two fertilizer plants in recent years that ran on natural gas. The units' exports would be more competitive if gas prices were lower.
Finally, the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, also likes the project that was first proposed in 2013 by the Chamber of Deputies because it aims to increase federal tax collection.
