STF suspends process for the sale of Petrobras refineries and gas pipelines. Injunction was granted after request of unions
Edson Fachin, minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), granted an injunction in which he suspends the process of selling Petrobras assets, such as refineries and the fertilizer unit Araucária Nitrogenados (Ansa). In an injunction granted last Friday, May 24, following a request from unions, Fachin annulled a decision of last January by the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) that had overturned an injunction against the sale by Petrobras of the TAG gas pipeline unit.
The court decision has already come to the attention of Petrobras, which will appeal to maintain the divestments, a source at the state-owned company with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
The measure also annulled the January 2018 decision of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), which had overturned an injunction against the sale by Petrobras of the Transportadora Associada de Gás (TAG) gas pipeline unit.
With the ruling by the STJ, Petrobras was able to close last month an agreement to sell 90% of TAG to a group led by the French electricity company Engie for US$ 8,6 billion.
Fachin claimed that the decision of the STJ confronted the previous determination of Ricardo Lewandowski, minister of the STF, “albeit by oblique or indirect ways, by allowing the continuity of the asset sale procedure without the necessary and prior bidding process and without the necessary legislative authorization” .
"I don't see room for, without express legal authorization, to make an exception from the constitutional bidding regime for the transfer of the contract entered into by Petrobras or its consortium members", says the decision.
The decision related to the refineries also cites a previous plan by Petrobras, to sell 60 percent of the stake in refining and logistics assets in the Northeast and South of the country.
Sindipetro Unificado-SP, one of the unions that filed the lawsuit against divestments, celebrated the injunction as “another victory” in its movement against privatizations at Petrobras.
The workers accuse the sale process of “a series of irregularities”, including the waiver of bidding, which according to them would violate the previous injunction by Minister Lewandowski cited by Fachin.
