The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), denied that Bill 3677, authored by federal deputy Reginaldo Lopes (PT-MG), changes Petrobras’ pricing policy. According to him, the text only makes the formula for calculating and value of fuel charged by the state-owned company more transparent.
Article published this Monday, 30th, by Political Broadcast shows, however, that the project may change the current policy. The proposal provides that the sale prices of oil derivatives practiced by Petrobras to distributors in the country must take into account production and refining costs in national currency plus markup, which is the difference between the sale price and the cost price. . The markup, according to the text, cannot exceed the maximum percentage defined by the National Petroleum Agency (ANP).
“(The project) does not interfere with the pricing policy. It provides transparency in the way Petrobras’ pricing policy is calculated, because today it is a closed thing, that no Brazilian has access, the control bodies (they do not have access). Others can be added, which deal with the equalization of what is produced in Brazil with what is imported, but then it interferes with the price policy”, said Lira, who also stressed that the priority of the Chamber at this moment is to find a way to use the dividends distributed by Petrobras to shareholders to subsidize fuel prices.
O Political Broadcast also showed that the proposal sets limits for the export of the product. “In view of the guarantee of domestic supply, and the economic role of Petrobras, the export of surplus oil will only be allowed in relation to the volume necessary to guarantee the fulfillment of the country’s domestic demand”, says an excerpt from the text.
“The people have the right to know that we produce a barrel of oil 60% cheaper than the international price,” said Lopes, author of the project. “It will demonstrate that the PPI is a theft”, he amended, referring to Petrobras’ current fuel price policy, which takes into account the variation of the dollar and the barrel of oil in the international market.
Congress has carried out a kind of “uprising” against price increases and has the support of the government, at a time when the effect of high inflation on Jair Bolsonaro’s (PL) reelection chances worries the president’s campaign committee. Last week, the Chamber approved a project that establishes a 17% ceiling for ICMS on electricity, fuels, natural gas, aviation kerosene, collective transport and telecommunications.
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