The Court of Rio granted an injunction suspending the 50% increase in the price of natural gas supplied by Petrobras to the distributor Naturgy. The decision is made by the duty judge Andre Felipe Tredinnick, who analyzed the public civil action filed this Tuesday (28) by the Board of Directors and by the Consumer Defense Commission of the Legislative Assembly of Rio (Alerj).
In the decision, the judge determined that Petrobras maintain the current conditions of supply and price until the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade) appreciates the representation made by the concessionaire Naturgy and until the conditions of access to the gas market are regulated, allowing thus the establishment of full competition in the supply of the input.
The decision also received a favorable opinion from the State Public Ministry, considering that the proposed increase “would represent real chaos for the State of Rio de Janeiro, impacting the entire population of Rio de Janeiro”.
According to the president of Alerj, deputy André Ceciliano (PT), Petrobras’ pricing policy is a factor that is currently preventing the resumption of development in the state. “It is not possible that this price escalation will be maintained,” he said.
In action, Alerj argued that the increase would have a strong impact on the state’s economy, generating a ripple effect on industry costs, the citizen’s budget and the price of CNG, much used by taxi drivers and application drivers. Compared to 2018, the readjustment of natural gas reaches 120%. The IPCA variation between January 2018 and November 2021 was 23.58%.
The readjustment would take place as of January 1, 2022. Ceciliano said that most of the supply costs are local, as Rio de Janeiro is the largest producer of natural gas in the country. More than 50% of all gas produced in the Santos Basin is reinjected into oil fields because there is a lack of gas pipelines to transport production, while the country imports the product.
