Privatizing Petrobras would not ensure lower prices, experts say

The proposal to privatize Petrobras, announced by Mines and Energy Minister Adolfo Sachsida, would not ensure lower fuel prices in Brazil. That’s what Marcus D’Elia, a partner at Leggio Consultoria, and José Luiz Alquéres, advisor of the Brazilian Center for International Relations (Cebri) and former CEO of Eletrobras and Light, said in Tuesday’s live-streamed interview with Valor.

“The price of diesel and gasoline depends on demand and supply. Therefore, privatizing Petrobras in Brazil has no effect on the price of oil,” says Mr. D’Elia. He recalled that there is already a divestment program at Petrobras in which several assets are being sold and Petrobras is already a well-structured company with good productivity and good professionals.

Mr. Alquéres says that privatizing the company a few months before the elections would be “a monumental nonsense.” The executive compares it to the privatization of Eletrobras, in which several proposals to the sector were inserted in the bill and would cost even more to society.

“If the Eletrobras privatization bill received unrelated amendments, try to figure a Petrobras privatization bill in the hands of [Chamber of Deputies speaker] Arthur Lira. This is a bad joke, an abuse of common sense and an aggression to the Brazilian people,” he said.

For them, earth-quaking statements by the minister only cause noise in the market. The ideal would be new private-sector refineries and more port infrastructure, which would increase competition and possibly stabilize prices.

Source: Valor International

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