Petrobras President Informs That BR Distribuidora Will Not Participate in Refinery Bidding

The President of Petrobras, Roberto Castello Branco, Said on Wednesday, May 8, at a Press Conference in Rio de Janeiro, That BR Distribuidora “Will Not Participate in Any Refinery Purchase Process.”

Castello Branco’s statement, the president of the oil company, was made at a press conference in Rio de Janeiro, a day after the release of the state-owned company’s balance sheet, which reported a profit of R$ 4 billion in the first quarter. According to the president, the company has not yet defined the model for selling Petrobras’s stake in BR Distribuidora. Still, Castello Branco stated that BR will not participate in any refinery purchase process. “It doesn’t make sense. It would be an operation as they used to say in the past, Zé with Zé.”

On the previous day, May 7, in a results teleconference with analysts, the president of BR, Rafael Grisolia, said, “A decision, obviously, for BR to have participation in refineries is something we will still look into. Of course, as a distributor, we have the duty to look at this from various angles, and we will always be doing that. Future decisions require us to consider all conditions going forward.”

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Castello Branco emphasized that the company’s divestment plan continues to focus immediately on selling refineries. The president also commented on the company’s interest in selling 8 of its 13 refineries. “Petrobras aims to sell 100% of the listed refineries. Simple as that,” he stated.

Regarding the state-owned company’s investments, the president said there is a possibility of revising what was proposed in the company’s plan, which anticipated US$ 16 billion in 2019. The amount, according to him, may have been overestimated.

According to him, the company focuses on seeking the best-performing areas and employing resources where necessary to ensure growth results. “We want Petrobras to be stronger, healthier. There are people who give the impression that Petrobras will become smaller and that they are dismantling Petrobras. That’s a cliché. No, Petrobras is managing its portfolio. We are divesting from assets that we do not find very interesting and investing in assets that we find very interesting. We have a program to invest at least US$ 84 billion over the next five years. We will not divest US$ 84 billion. It means that the company will grow and become larger on a stronger and healthier basis,” he pointed out.

The Executive Director of Exploration and Production, Carlos Alberto Pereira de Oliveira, said that with the commissioning of seven platforms in the last 11 months, it is possible to notice the growth in production. In the first quarter of 2019, the company recorded 2.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed), in April it increased to 2.6 million boed, and in May it reached 2.7 million boed. “This is important. We have a production target to meet. This year, we will deliver 2.8 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. We are maintaining this target based on this perspective of production growth that we are beginning to achieve,” he said.

Castello Branco announced that the announcement of oil and gas production will no longer be made monthly. The company will wait for the end of the quarter to release the figures. “It will be done quarterly and no longer monthly, primarily because monthly data tends to show significant volatility and also because it is a global standard. We do not want to be different,” he pointed out.

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