Prates: Petrobras should recover the Mataripe refinery, in Bahia, in the 1st semester

Petrobras should complete the return of the Landulpho Alves – Mataripe Refinery (RLAM), in Bahia, to the Brazilian state-owned company by the end of this semester, stated the president of the state-owned company, Jean Paul Prates, in a publication on X (formerly Twitter) this Tuesday- fair, 13.

The recovery of Mataripe should happen with the help of the Mubadala fund, with whom Petrobras has been “working for months” to design the refinery’s return, says Prates. He was in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, to meet with the executive chairman of the Arab fund, Waleed Al Mokarrab Al Muhairi.

“We have agreed that our teams will intensify work immediately after the return of the Carnival holidays with a view to finalizing the new corporate and operational configuration in the first half of 2024. Other details and current progress will be kept confidential until the process is completed,” he wrote. Prates on the X.

The head of Petrobras stated that talks with Mubadala began at the beginning of last year, with technical and management teams looking for ways to complete the return of the Mataripe refinery to the control of the Brazilian state-owned company.

Opened in 1950, the Mataripe refinery is located in São Francisco do Conde, Bahia. The privatization of the refining unit took place in December 2021, with the sale to Mubadala for US$1.65 billion (R$10 billion at the time). At that time, the bank BTG Pactual and the Institute for Strategic Studies of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (Ineep) expected at least double the amount from the deal.

Last January, Petrobras opened an internal procedure to evaluate the purchase of the Mataripe refinery. In the same week, the Comptroller General of the Union (CGU) stated that it had found “weaknesses” in the sale.

The recovery of the Mataripe refinery comes at a time when Petrobras' current management is reviewing contracts and sales made during the government of former president Bolsonaro. In November 2023, the Brazilian state-owned company decided to terminate the contract for the delivery of a refinery in Ceará, which was negotiated in 2022 for US$34 million (R$167.3 million).

“Maintaining consistency with our plan for strategic partnerships with similar companies and following the guidance of President Lula's government plan for approaching complementary countries in synergies with our country, we are managing to conduct frank and direct dialogues, and set up very promising ventures for to Petrobras and to Brazil”, wrote Prates this Tuesday.

At the beginning of this year, Prates said, also through social media, that the sale of the refinery is under evaluation by the state-owned company, in dialogue with the control bodies. According to him, there is an administrative procedure in place to evaluate the business, under consideration by the company's relevant integrity areas. (WITH JULIANA GARÇON)