MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro sent a bill proposal to Congress that would alter how state fuel taxes are set to reduce volatile pump prices following a threat by trucker drivers to strike over high diesel costs, said Reuters.
In a statement, Bolsonaro's office said under the proposal states would need to submit proposed ICMS tax rates on fuels to the National Fiscal Policy Council. Any increase in the tax would only go into effect after 90 days, to make the market more predictable, the statement said.
Truck drivers had threatened to strike on Feb. 1 but few followed through on the stoppage, following Bolsonaro's remarks that he would take action to try to lower fuel prices. The incident raised fears that Brazil may begin to intervene in how state-led oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA sets prices, as happened under previous governments.
Reuters was first to report that Petrobras, as the state firm is known, had revised its pricing policy to track international parity over a 12-month period instead of every three months, feeding concerns of interference.
Petrobras, Bolsonaro and other government officials have denied any interference in how the company sets fuel prices.
We remind that Petrobras may need more than a year to divest its stake in Braskem, said Andrea Almeida, Petrobras CFO, in early July, 2020. She said during the company"s recent webinar that Petrobras plans to give more time for potential investors to make offers for the company"s assets, including for its refineries and stakes at its petrochemical and fuel distribution affiliates. The divestment of Petrobras"s stake in Braskem in 2020 would be desirable but "might not be possible" as the COVID-19 pandemic has changed market conditions, she said. The company plans to close part of its refinery sales in 2021. In December, Roberto Castello Branco, CEO of Petrobras, said that he wants to sell the company"s stake in Braskem within a year. Petrobras owns 32.15% of Braskem.
We also remind that Braskem is no longer pursuing a petrochemical project, which would have included an ethane cracker, in West Virginia. And the company is seeking to sell the land that would have housed the cracker. The project, announced in 2013, had been on Braskem's back burner for several years.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC"s ScanPlast report, Russia"s estimated PE consumption totalled 2,220,640 tonnes in 2020, up by 2% year on year. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market reached 1 240,000 tonnes in 2020 (calculated using the formula: production, minus exports, plus imports, excluding producers" inventories as of 1 January, 2020).
Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Petrobras is an integrated energy firm. Petrobras' activities include exploration, exploitation and production of oil from reservoir wells, shale and other rocks as well as refining, processing, trade and transport of oil and oil products, natural gas and other fluid hydrocarbons, in addition to other energy-related activities.
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