Petrobras will reduce the price of natural gas for distributors by 1.41% from November. The announcement was made this Monday (14), in Rio de Janeiro, by the executive director of Energy Transition and Sustainability at Petrobras, Maurício Tolmasquim, who also highlighted the 17% drop in the price of the product since 2023.
He recalled that natural gas is an important part of the energy transition and stated that the government and Petrobras aim to have competitive prices for consumers to help with the massification of gas, an important element of the Brazilian program because it emits less than other fossil fuels.
“So, now in November, I just got this information, we are going to reduce the price of gas by 1.41% due to the exchange rate for Brent compared to the previous quarter, remembering that, since 2023, they have already been reduced by 17% of the price of gas since January 2023, this during the Lula government, more than 1.41% now this quarter. It’s a change and an important movement,” he said, adding that contracts are quarterly.
The announcement was made during breakfast, this Monday (14), in the presence of the president of Petrobras, Magda Chambriard, and other directors of the company.
Greater diversification
Tolmasquim also informed that the company’s board of directors now approved new gas contract offers from distributors with greater diversification in October.
“Distributors can create a type of contract playing with flexibility, deadlines, start of supply, entry location and indexer. Playing with these variables, we previously had 20 possibilities for combining contracts. This new package approved by the board increases from 20 to 48 possibilities for distributors”, he detailed.
In addition to the competitive price, the director considered the approval of a demand incentive premium interesting. In this award there will be a price 10% lower than the reference price for consumption that is above the customer’s commitment.
“If the client had a minimum commitment value and exceeds the commitment, there must be a 10% reduction in the reference price. This also goes along with the policy of providing more access to gas”, he revealed, highlighting that the measure applies to distributors.
Production can increase
The president of Petrobras said that the company has great expectations with the production of the Boaventura Energy Complex, which was previously called Comperj. Inaugurated in September with the presence of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in Itaboraí, Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro, the hub, explained Magda Chambriard, in addition to being thermoelectric, can increase the production of derivatives in the state of Rio by 50%.
She then stated that the company is analyzing oil wells that – in a previous assessment – may have been considered as a point of non-exploitation for gas due to different interpretations.
“We have this in the Campos Basin, we have this in the Búzios Field, so Petrobras is moving towards finding more gas for society. If we have more gas, we have a chance of having cheaper gas, making more use of the gas and being able to use the gas for everything the country needs, such as fertilizers, petrochemicals and chemicals in general. We are very impressed to see a chemical industry that needs our gas and that gas, sometimes, accounts for around 40% of the cost of the final product. We have expensive gas and cannot supply it as needed”, he explained.
“The last time I looked, the chemical industry was bringing a deficit of US$60 billion to the Brazilian trade balance. So, imagine the size of this demand for gas that we have the chance to address here at Petrobras and I am sure we will achieve it”, he revealed.
The president also informed that the free gas market currently has six companies, including Ternium, CSN and Gerdau and is expected to increase.
“At the beginning of the year there will be seven of our customers in the free gas market and the market will expand. Petrobras is occupying this space and making gas cheaper so that we can make this huge gas market that could happen in Brazil viable. We understand that, with an adequate gas price, the Brazilian gas market can triple in terms of capacity and gas absorption. That’s what we’re looking for. That’s what we’re looking for [também] with fertilizers and petrochemicals. There are people who say: ‘Are you trying to give cheap gas?’. No. We want to gain scale and make money with this market, which is huge and ours. We don’t want to open the market to anyone, no. We will occupy the market that we can occupy”, he concluded.
*Article changed at 3:42 pm to add information.
