TCU technical area requests suspension of Petrobras and Unigel contract

(PN) The technical area of the Federal Audit Court (TCU) issued an opinion calling for the suspension of the contract signed between Petrobras and Unigel, pointing out that there are irregularities in the agreement. According to the court, the contract could result in losses of R$487.1 million within eight months. The opinion still needs to be approved by the case’s rapporteur at the TCU, Minister Benjamin Zymler.

To remember, at the end of 2019, Unigel took control of the fertilizer factories in Camaçari (BA) and Laranjeiras (SE), which were hibernated by Petrobrás. Unigel resumed operation of the plants, but suspended activities last year, claiming that the drop in urea prices and the price of natural gas were making the business unviable. The petrochemical group also suffered a loss of R$1 billion between January and September 2023.

In December last year Petrobras and Unigel announced the signing of a tolling contract. The agreement provided for a payment of R$759.2 million from the oil company to the petrochemical company for the provision of industrialization, storage, shipping and after-sales services for urea, ammonia and Arla. In March of this year, Unigel announced that it would lay off 255 employees at the fertilizer factories in Bahia and Sergipe and would once again halt the operation of the plants.

The technicians highlighted that the hiring decision was approved only by a Petrobras director, and the contract was signed by an executive manager subordinate to him, without the effective participation of the company’s other higher levels. This occurred in a contract whose content and value exceed the decision-making powers regulated by the company. The technicians also ask that Petrobras be provoked to comment, within 15 days, on the facts highlighted and that it be alerted to the possibility of the court ordering the annulment of the contract with Unigel.

At the beginning of March, Petrobras concluded an internal investigation into alleged irregularities committed by directors William França (Industrial Processes and Products) and Sérgio Caetano (Investor Relations and Finance) in the process of approving the contract with Unigel. The state-owned company said it found no irregularities in the agreement reached with the petrochemical company. Petrobras also said that the entire investigation was monitored by KPMG’s independent audit, which carried out additional tests and examined procedures and controls applicable to the entire process, in accordance with the rules applicable to the matter.