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Lula's party, the PT, cannot re-nationalize those areas and companies
privatized during the
Fernando Henrique Cardoso administrations,
but it is determined to retain state control even if this
means undermining
them. The prime targets are the regulatory watchdogs set up
to prevent abuse
and formation of monopolies.
By
John Fitzpatrick
When the idea of setting up Petrobras was put forward in 1951 (it was called then Petrobrás, with an accent) the
slogan "O petróleo é
nosso" (the petrol is ours) was used by its proponents to persuade the Brazilian people that the state
should have a monopoly on the right to explore and exploit Brazil's oil reserves. When the company was partially privatized in
2000 and lost its monopoly, the then director of the national petroleum agency (ANP) announced
"o petróleo é vosso" (the
petrol is yours).
This was a bit of an overstatement since the government had no intention of giving up its majority stake in a
company, which is not only the biggest in Latin America but of strategic importance to the country. There is virtually no prospect
of Petrobras being privatized in the near future.
"O petróleo é deles" (the petrol is theirs) would have been more appropriate.
As events this week showed, the PT is still against privatization and sees Petrobras as an asset to be held onto at all
costs. A row started after the ANP (Agência Nacional de Petróleo—National Oil Agency) issued an announcement on
Tuesday March 11 stating that huge deposits of high quality oil, amounting to 1.9 billion barrels, had been discovered off the
coast of Sergipe state.
This immediately triggered a run on Petrobras shares, with the common share jumping by almost 6.5 percent before
falling back to end the day almost 4.5 percent higher. Although the PT radicals need no encouragement to see conspiracy
behind any stock market activity they were secretly delighted when it subsequently emerged that, on the day before the
announcement, there had been an unusually high amount of trading of Petrobras shares. According to the
Estado de S. Paulo newspaper, US$22 million in business was done that day compared with a daily average of R$13 million in the previous three
weeks. The Brazilian equivalent of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the CVM, announced an investigation.
To make things more complicated, Petrobras itself issued a statement claiming that the ANP's statement had been
"incorrect, confusing and wrong". The company said the ANP had based its statement on insufficient data and had given
what could prove to be an exaggerated estimate of the oil reserves.
The PT leader in the Lower House of Congress said any announcement on the Petrobras find should have been left
to the company. However, experts quoted in the press said the ANP had behaved correctly and wondered why Petrobras
had not issued the information on Friday March 7, the day it provided the ANP with the information.
What a gift all this has proved to be, not just to the PT radicals but to the whole government, including President
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, which likes neither the way Petrobras has been run recently nor the ANP. The mines and energy
minister, Dilma Roussef, cleared her diary and headed off to Brasília for a meeting with Lula and his right-hand man, Jose Dirceu.
We do not know what these three old comrades discussed, but we can be sure that their plans included ways of stripping
the ANP's authority and further strengthening the government's hold on Petrobras.
Although the PT knows it cannot re-nationalize those areas and companies privatized during the Fernando Henrique
Cardoso administrations, it is determined to retain state control even if this means undermining them. The prime targets are the
regulatory watchdogs, which were set up to ensure that the newly privatized companies did not abuse their power and that
monopolies did not emerge.
Eight such agencies were set up to regulate areas such as oil, energy, telecommunications, electricity etc. These
bodies have the power to set tariffs and, more importantly, their members have fixed mandates. This means that the directors
cannot be routinely fired when a new administration takes over. The PT does not like these agencies because it believes they
have assumed powers which should be in the hands of the politicians.
The government has other priorities at the moment than changing the laws covering the regulatory bodies, so
minister Roussef will have to grit her teeth and wait until the mandates run out before acting. In the case of the ANP director his
mandate lasts until 2005. However, Mrs. Roussef was an arms quartermaster for left-wing guerrillas in her younger days and
hardly seems the type to wait that long.
Pressure will start being applied not only to the ANP but the other regulators. ANATEL, the telecommunications
watchdog has already been given notice by the communications minister, Miro Teixeira, that he and not it will assume
responsibility for renewing concession contracts for fixed-line telephone services when the present contracts expire in 2006. The other
agencies, such as ANEEL, which regulates the electrical energy sector, are also in the firing line.
As for Petrobras, one of the first moves by Lula's government was to change its board of directors and appoint a
former PT senator as its chairman. Dirceu himself was even appointed a board member but stood down after the move was
poorly received on the market place. For old-style nationalist types of the Left or Right Petrobras is still a symbol of the country
and not just another oil company. One recalls the fuss in December 2000 when the company announced that it would change
its name to Petrobrax. The hostility to such a minor change was such that Cardoso himself had to intervene and the name
was dropped instantly.
Maybe the name will be changed again—this time to PTbras.
John Fitzpatrick is a Scottish journalist who first visited Brazil in 1987 and has lived in São Paulo since 1995. He
writes on politics and finance and runs his own company, Celtic Comunicações—
www.celt.com.br, which specializes in
editorial and translation services for Brazilian and foreign clients. You can reach him at
jf@celt.com.br
© John Fitzpatrick 2003
You can also read John Fitzpatrick's articles in
Infobrazil, at www.infobrazil.com
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Can you tell me more about the shares Petrobrás, issue date novembre 1956?. The emissie value was Cr$ 1.000,=. Do they still have any value and is it possible.
sincerly yours