Abigas hopes the delay in the Petrobras pipeline will not affect prices

Distributors are in the process of negotiating with the state-owned company, after 7 companies received orders to freeze the amendments

a delay In the works of the Rota 3 project, which will drain and process the pre-salt gas, it should not affect the purchase prices of the inputs by distributors. This is what the Strategy and Market Manager does Abigas (Brazilian Association of Gas Pipeline Distributors), Marcelo Mendonca, in an interview with 360 . force.

Petrobras on Monday (July 11, 2022) published a statement to the market stating that business at UPGN (Natural Gas Processing Unit) Polo Gaslub has been paralyzed. The unit is a kind of natural gas refinery, which is necessary to make the input marketable according to the technical parameters of the composition.

The pipeline will increase domestic gas supplies by 18 million cubic meters of gas per day, which will theoretically reduce imports of liquefied natural gas (liquefied natural gas), the price of which has risen since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

Mendonça states that the prices currently practiced by Petrobras had already increased at the time of gas thermoelectric generation, in water crisis. Therefore, the potential continuity import levels From Petrobras does not mean an increase in values.

At the beginning of the year, 7 distributors obtained court orders against Petrobras to freeze modifications promoted by the state company. They are: Gasmig (MG), Naturgy (RJ), Sergás (SE), Algás (AL), SCGás (SC), Cegás (CE) and ESGás (ES).

“But the negotiations are comprehensive, they go through all distributors. If there is another price, this contract modification will be passed on to all distributors, not just those with lawsuits“, He said.

However, he said Cade (the Administrative Council for Economic Defense) should be aware of the prices of Petrobras, a dominant agent in the market. “This Route 3 delay issue is another variable that Cade must investigate“, He said.

According to him, the lack of a new deadline to run the pipeline is worrying. Petrobras said in a statement that it will issue a new date after “Related reviews“.

The UPGN will be delivered in two phases in the second half of 2022. Before the pandemic, the forecast was for 2020.