Petrobras' Director of Refining and Natural Gas, Anelise Lara, assured that the company will continue to be a strong competitor in Brazil's new refining market, which will be formed in the coming years from the sale of eight out of a total of 13 refineries today managed by Petrobras. The statement was made this Wednesday (2/12), during the panel “The new downstream market” by Rio Oil & Gas, the largest event in the sector in Latin America.

“We will continue with 1.1 million barrels of oil being processed per day. We have already taken several actions in energy efficiency, decarbonization, digital transformation and we have also developed more advanced products ”, said Anelise, who foresees as a challenge for Petrobras the preparation of teams for this new scenario. “As we have had a monopoly for so many years, we have procedures that will need to be changed to become more competitive. We need to gain flexibility, maintaining governance and the integrity of the processes ”, said the executive.

An example of success that can be adopted for this change in culture, according to the director, is what was observed in relation to operational safety. The Recordable Accident Rate in the Refining and Natural Gas area reached 0.3 per million man-hours, and the world average is 0.9. “We achieved this result because safety is an intrinsic value for us, it is in our blood. Now, we have to look for lower costs and better operational performance. With these values and guidelines, we will certainly be a strong competitor ”, predicted the director.

Divestments and energy transition 

The Brazilian downstream market will be altered by two major movements, according to Anelise: Petrobras' divestments of half of its refining capacity and the energy transition, which will require new products, such as renewable diesel and BioQAV. ”It will be a market totally different. Today, we compete only with importers, but there will also be competition between refineries. This will bring new players and more investments in logistics, technology and new products ”, explained the director.

Petrobras has already received final offers to purchase four refineries and expects to receive proposals for two others later this year. The remaining two units are expected to enter the final sale phase in the first quarter of 2021.