The National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP) expects to present by the end of the month the draft of a new resolution to increase the transparency in the variation of oil derivatives prices in Brazil. According to the director general of the ANP, Décio Oddone (photo), among the measures studied is the prohibition of the anticipation of the readjustments. The changes would necessarily be released in real time.

In addition, the idea is not to allow companies to set a periodicity for price disclosure and to determine that the data is disclosed for each point of sale. The proposal should be submitted to a public consultation before being approved by the agency. It is expected that the entire process will be completed by the end of September, when the defined rules would take effect.

According to Oddone, the resolution should bring rules for the various agents of the petroleum industry, including producers, distributors, importers, fuel stations. "With greater transparency, society is more accepting of price changes," said the director general, at an event held today (13) by the Lide Group, a private organization that brings together business leaders.

Last month, the ANP had already announced that it does not intend to adopt any measure that establishes a minimum periodicity for fuel price readjustments. The decision was based on the results of a Public Taking of Contributions (TCP) that received 146 demonstrations. According to Oddone, the technical evaluation of the collaborations indicated that the minimum periodicity would not be a recommendable measure. The results of TCP would have pointed out other ways that are being considered in the drafting of the draft.

If these proposals go ahead and become a resolution, the Petrobras virtual page will need to be adapted. Currently, the state provides the average readjustment that will be practiced the next day. "And if Petrobras, which today publishes an arithmetic average of the prices practiced in Brazil, will have to publish the prices of each of the points of sales, "explains Oddone. In their assessment, the measures would ensure more transparency and competition, which benefits the consumer.

The Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) today published in the Official Gazette a decree creating a new working group to discuss the general guidelines for the new policy of commercialization of oil, natural gas. According to the ordinance, the group will be responsible for discussing, in addition to the policy of the oil and natural gas sector, also the guidelines for the commercialization of other fluid hydrocarbons that fit the Union.

Low Carbon

Oddone also defended the acceleration in oil exploration and production in Brazil. According to him, the move to a low-carbon economy is a given. According to the director general of the ANP, the energy matrix will become increasingly diversified. In this context, he sees the need to explore Brazilian oil reserves while they still have value, thus generating wealth for the country. "There is no time to waste, there will be oil left under the earth when the era of the oil-based economy is over.

In this assessment, the long cycle of the industry and the delay in the licensing process would be among the challenges to be faced. According to Oddone's estimate, a pre-salt exploration contract to be signed in 2020 will only become a de facto production by 2028. Oddone is still in favor of opening up for more and more foreign companies to act. only in production, but also in refining in the country.

A study carried out by the ANP and quoted during the speech pointed out that every oil and gas sector, including the biofuel and fertilizer industries, has the potential to attract investments in the country of around R $ 2.5 trillion in 10 years, which would on average, R $ 250 billion per year. "This is far beyond the investment capacity of a single company. We need to have a lot of companies investing in Brazil," Oddone said.