An important step towards opening up the Brazilian natural gas market, the lease of Petrobras' liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Bahia suffered a setback this week and will go on hold. Golar Power (Hygo Energy) was the only company to submit a commercial proposal, but was, at the end of the bid, disqualified.
The lack of competition for a key asset for the entry of new players in the sector sends a clear message about the extent to which the opening of gas is a complex process that depends on a high degree of coordination and does not occur immediately.
In all, ten different groups were qualified to lease the terminal: BP, Shell, Total, Repsol, Golar, Excelerate, Naturgy, Compass, Eneva and Bahiagás. In the end, on the day of the competition, on Wednesday (30), only Golar Power presented a commercial proposal for the asset. BP asked for the postponement of the opening of commercial proposals to resolve pending issues and informed that its proposal would not be binding. Compass declined to present the commercial proposal.
Golar's proposal was disqualified amid the outbreak, last week, of the 75th phase of “Operation Lava-Jato”, which placed the company's president, Eduardo Antonello, on suspicion of corruption during the time he was working. at Seadrill, in contracts with Petrobras.
Antonello stepped down from his position at Golar to dedicate himself to his defense. Petrobras, however, revised Golar's Degree of Integrity Risk (GRI) to high and disqualified the company from the process.
The bidding now enters the appeal phase. If the competition is closed without valid proposals, the state company will open a new bid.
Golar Power claims, in its defense, that the investigations have no connection with its activities and are related to conduct prior to Antonello's work at the company. The company is going through a turbulent time amid the suspension of its IPO process in the United States. The company is also at risk of suffering collective actions by investors in the USA.
Joint venture between the Norwegian Golar LNG and the American Stonepeak fund, Golar Power is one of the most active companies in the process of opening the gas market, already has an LNG terminal in Sergipe and would consolidate a privileged position, without major immediate competitors in the Northeast, with the exception of Petrobras itself and small onshore producers.
Whoever finishes the Bahian terminal will be able to enter the market with imported gas loads, at a time when the prices of the commodity are low. The unit's rental agreement is valid until the end of 2023.
The regasification plant will be the first of its kind to be operated by the private sector in a position to inject gas into the pipeline network - the Celse (Golar / EBrasil Energia) units in Sergipe and the GNA (Prumo Logística / Siemens / BP) , in Porto do Açu (RJ), are not connected to the system.
In the assessment of the president of the consultancy Gas Energy, Rivaldo Moreira Neto, the unsuccessful bidding process for the Bahia terminal is a reflection of the lack of predictability about when, in fact, TAG and NTS carriers will promote public calls for contracting the capacity of their gas pipelines . Without this, the new operator of the regasification plant will not be able to access the national gas pipeline network and take the gas to more distant markets.
Emblematic case
“The absence of ample and predictable, firm and immediate access to transport systems has certainly undermined the evaluation of the opportunity by all others qualified. If it is considered that the lease will be for three years and 'universalized' access does not yet have a clear horizon, the perception of risk is, of course, very high. The same thing can happen with the opening of the flow and processing infrastructure. Without access to transportation, we can stay the same. The case of the Bahia terminal is emblematic and should teach. I hope he gave the message sufficiently clear about the need for this process [of contracting gas pipeline capacity] to be more agile and transparent ”, he commented.
This week, Petrobras signed contracts with Shell, Petrogal and Repsol Sinopec, for sharing the flow and processing infrastructure of the pre-salt. With the lack of predictability about TAG and NTS public calls and due to the pending treatment of the processing service tax, there is still no expectation that access to processing units (UPGNs) will materialize in the short term.
For Moreira Neto, as it already has a structured LNG commercialization strategy via trucks, Golar was positioned to explore the terminal immediately. "Golar is already in the small-scale LNG business, which, theoretically, would allow it to explore the terminal more quickly and on a larger scale, since there would be no exclusive dependence on the transport pipelines to commercialize LNG in different markets," he said. .
The gas manager of the Association of Large Energy Consumers (Abrace), Adrianno Lorenzon, regrets the result of the competition.
According to him, there was an expectation among industrial consumers that in 2021 migration to the free gas market would already be possible. "But now, there will be no time," said the expert, who also comments on the lack of competition in the process. "This is a consequence of the lack of access to transportation, which limits the terminal market," he added.
According to an executive of a company that tries to make the free market viable, the target now turns to try imports via Bolivia, since the carrier responsible for the Bolivia-Brazil (Gasbol) gas pipeline, TBG, is in the process of contracting of open capacity. In view of the proximity to the Bolivian elections, however, negotiations with local producers are at a slow pace.
Golar Power issued a note on Friday (02), "vehemently" refuting Petrobras' decision to declassify it from the bidding process for the lease of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Bahia - the company presented the only commercial proposal for the rental of the asset, in the amount of over R $ 130 million according to the bidder.
Golar claims that it is not the subject of any criminal investigation or investigation and clarifies that it has no relationship, participation or involvement in the public allegations disclosed about the alleged irregularities committed by Antonello.
"Petrobras makes a mistake in relating the Golar Power group to the investigation, which has caused and has been causing damage to the Golar Power group", explains the company, in a note.
Also according to Golar, the “alleged facts and allegations attributed to the removed executive occurred in 2010, six years before the very creation of Golar Power by an American investment fund [Stonepeak] and a Norwegian company [Golar LNG], both with high standard of diligence against corruption ”.
The company also highlights that, as soon as it became aware of the existence of the investigation, it started, in a proactive and immediate way, an independent investigation process and accepted the request for removal of the executive.
Golar Power announced that it maintains its commitment to the proposed investment in the bid.
Freedom is driven by determination
#92651
Re: Cobas AM: Nueva Gestora de Francisco García Paramés
Son unos cachondos, todos, rojos y azules, por no decir sinvergüenzas.
Luego llegan las elecciones y te escriben para pedir el voto.
Querido hombre, Verá, le hemos dado por el ojal y malmetido con toda la basura patriarcal que nuestras enfermas mentes han podido fabricar...
...Verá, cómo además es blanco, le hemos sometido a un doble combo difamatorio ya que, aunque usted no lo sepa, en el fondo es un fiel seguidor del Ku-Klux-Klan...
...Verá, por si fuera poco, usted no nos lo pone nada fácil ya que también es heterosexual...De no ser por nosotros, los dos sabemos que andaría ejerciendo contra ellos la ley de vagos y maleantes por su cuenta y riesgo...
...Verá, en resumidas cuentas, usted es hombre blanco y heterosexual, todo un peligro que debe ser perseguido y erradicado.
...Verá, cómo podrá imaginar, para pagar todo lo anterior necesitamos dinero. Vaya por delante que usted, hombre blanco heterosexual, es un asesino, un violador o, cómo poco, un maltratador. Financiaremos todo lo anterior a costa suya.pero no le quepa duda que el malo de la película es usted.
En fin, que luego se extrañan de que gane Trump y cosas de esas...
Hasta las mujeres ya han dicho que se les ha ido de las manos...(incluyendo a aquella que cantaba lo de Malo Eres...)
Hace no mucho me pediste un post que publicar en la portada de Rankia. ¿Qué te parece ese?
Bueno, cómo no tengo mucha fe en que salga en la portada algo de este estilo, ayer estaba curioseando compañías y encontré una que creo que pudiera resultar interesante de estudiar.
Cómo la niña de mis ojos no se la puedo contar hasta que llegue a precio y esté metido a saco, hace unas semanas les hable de una empresa que se llama Comer Industries y creo que será un pelotazo en base a lo que ya expliqué.
Bien, cómo quizá no es suficiente, les voy a contar otra que ayer llamó mi atención, cosa rara ya que me cuesta dios y ayuda encontrar algo de interés.
Pues bien, la compañía en cuestión se llama Focus Home Interactive, small cap de unos 200 millones de capitalización (cómo la otra que ya les conté). No la he mirado ya que sólo la vi por encima pero tenía muy buena pinta. Aparentemente sin deuda y con caja neta, con un accionista mayoritario (en torno al 33% de las acciones), de la industria creciente del videojuego, con un producto escalable sin grandes desembolsos (encima la mayor parte son juegos distribuidos en formato digital-sin soporte físico) y a un PER que no parece locura.
Ya digo, no la he mirado en profundidad pero me llamó la atención. Ha multiplicado x 3.5 desde mínimos de marzo después de ser un pozo sin fondo durante 2 años. O han sacado algún juego relevante últimamente o alguien más se ha fijado en ella. Mirando un poco he visto que la tienen la gente de Sycomore y Amiral.
Dicho queda por si alguién quiere mirarla en profundidad.
The whole thing was designed to keep you poor - Robert Kiyosaki
#92653
Re: Cobas AM: Nueva Gestora de Francisco García Paramés
