2024-01-05 23:35:42
© Reuters. Petrobras Refinery 1/07/ 2017 REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker
RIO DE JANEIRO/BRASÍLIA (Reuters) – The Single Federation of Oil Workers (FUP) sent a letter to Petrobras (BVMF:) demanding an “immediate” investigation into possible irregularities in the sale of a refinery in Bahia in 2019, after the General Comptroller of the Union ( CGU) pointed out weaknesses in a report on the process of selling refining assets.
The Bahian Rlam refinery, now called Mataripe Refinery, was sold to the Mubadala group for US$1.65 billion as part of a broad plan to sell Petrobras assets put in place during previous governments.
The controversy surrounding the asset was reignited after Petrobras announced in December that it will evaluate the acquisition of a stake in Mubadala Capital’s refining and biorefining assets in Bahia, as well as strategic partnerships in the segment with the Abu Dhabi company.
In the letter, the federation asked that the internal investigation involve the participation of a FUP representative and also asked for the preventive removal of managers who were involved in the Rlam sale process.
“FUP, through its legal representation, will also take legal action so that those responsible for the sale of the refinery are punished, that Petrobras can be compensated for its losses, and that Rlam can return to control of Petrobras “, said the federation.
Among the issues cited in the report, the CGU pointed out “weakness in the use of economic-financial assessment as decision support due to the width of the value range found, caused by the use of contour scenarios without adequate probabilistic treatment, with a risk of negative impact in the financial result of the divestment at this point”.
As a result of the report, the CGU recommended “correcting the aforementioned standard, documenting the actions adopted to mitigate the risk, justifying the advantage of the sale and using, in upcoming and ongoing assessments, probabilistic techniques complementary to scenario analyses”.
When contacted, Petrobras did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The sale of Rlam occurred after Petrobras committed to the antitrust body Cade, in mid-2019, to sell all its refineries outside the states of Rio and São Paulo, as part of a broad initiative by the federal government at the time to reduce Petrobras’ participation in the oil and gas sector, opening the way for new companies, with the prospect of more investments.
In November, Petrobras filed requests with Cade to renegotiate the agreement signed during Jair Bolsonaro’s government.
The new management of Petrobras, under the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has reiterated that it is against the sale of assets as previous administrations had been doing, while focusing on exploration and production in areas of high profitability.
(By Marta Nogueira and Ricardo Brito)
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