Insight Focus
- Petrobras leaves diesel price unchanged
- Senator close to Lula suggests Petrobras-Electrobras merger
- Power tariff flag changes to green from water scarcity
There were no reshuffles at the Ministry of Energy and Mines or a change in Petrobras CEO in the last 10 days.
Also, there was no adjustment in the price of diesel, as the market expected.
The gamble – whether it was the final move, we still don’t know – was to send a letter to the Ministry of Mines and Energy, warning about the possibility of shortages in the second half of the year.
A report by the UBS bank also points to this shortage if Petrobras fails to implement its policy of parity with international prices. And with higher prices, consultancy S&P estimates that demand for gasoline and ethanol in Brazil should decline by 45,000 barrels a day in the second quarter of 2022.
According to the most recent data from Abicom, the price of gasoline in Brazil is 11% less than on the international market, and the price of diesel is 7% less.
Meanwhile, the Senate, which has already met with state representatives, is in the process of deciding whether to approve the 17% fuel tax cap.
Petrobras-Electrobras Merger Propsed
This week, Camila Maia, a journalist at MegaWhat, exclusively interviewed Senator Jean Paul Prates (PT-RN), who is not seeking reelection and has been in dialogue with the campaign of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for the presidency. One of Prates’ ideas is the merging of Petrobras and Eletrobras into a new energy company, with less focus on oil exploration and production, and more on investment to accelerate the energy transition, and a lot of dialogue with everyone before any changes.
There were no reshuffles at the Ministry of Mines and Energy, but some vacant positions were filled:
And if things were calmer at the MME during the week, the National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel) was the scene of injunctions against the replacement of four plants of the Simplified Competitive Procedure (PSC) by Âmbar Energia’s Mario Covas thermoelectric plant.
The deputy director-general of Aneel, Camila Bomfim, accepted the appeals presented by those representing energy consumers and suspended the previous decision. The merit discussion should be next Tuesday.
And on Aneel’s agenda, last Tuesday, the opening of public consultation was approved to discuss the involuntary over contracting of GD surpluses.
In addition, the change in the tariff flag, from water scarcity to green, could bring an average reduction of approximately 2% in tariffs in 2022, compared with the previous year, according to estimates by the PSR consultancy.
