Petrobras faces protests over suspended projects

Hundreds of people rallied in front of the Petrobras headquarters on Monday (Aug. 24) to demand that the state-owned oil company complete the construction of one of the two refineries in its Rio de Janeiro Petrochemical Complex (COMPERJ) project. Protesters are also calling on the oil company to resume order placements with shipyards in Rio de Janeiro and Niterói. Both the COMPERJ project and ship and rig orders were interrupted as the company incurred losses and became the target of a massive corruption investigation in the past year.

Among the crowd were mayors and representatives from 15 municipalities impacted by the suspensions. A committee with the mayors of Itaboraí, Helil Cardozo, and Niterói, Rodrigo Neves, as well as deputies and union leaders, was met by technical staff at Petrobras, but their original purpose was to meet with CEO Aldemir Bendine.

As they came out, the mayor of Itaboraí complained that Bendine had not been at the meeting. “We're not satisfied because we didn't have the chance to meet the real decision-maker. Bendine did not come to see us, he merely set up a committee to attend to us,” Cardozo said just outside the building. According to the mayor, two international groups are expected to complete work on the refinery—about 18% of the whole project. “The Chief Executive Office at Petrobras doesn't seem really interested in completing these projects,” he went on.

Mayor Rodrigo Neves said the rallies should continue putting pressure on Petrobras to stop ruining state and local economies with investment cutbacks. As the country's main naval engineering center, Niterói is home to several shipyards, many of which are focused on building rigs, support vessels, and oil tankers ordered by Petrobras. According to Neves, the 40,000 workforce these shipyards used to employ until two years ago has shrunk to only about 20,000 now.

Petrobras issued a statement saying that Bendine had met with local mayors on Thursday (Aug. 20) and two of Petrobras' contacts for the projects were at the meeting yesterday. About COMPERJ, the note said the natural gas processing plant project—including pipelines, water and steam unit, and power distribution systems—is in progress with operations are expected to start in October 2017.

“As for the Trem 1 refinery project, Petrobras is building a business model that includes partnerships to complete the project. Work on the project—which has not been interrupted—will follow the strategy set by our 2015–2019 Business and Management Plan, having completed 85% of the physical structure. Currently, there are about 11,500 active workers in 21 major construction and assembly contracts,” the statement concluded.

Translated by Mayra Borges