HOWEVER, A SERIOUS ACCIDENT DURING THE ASSEMBLY OF ONE OF REPLAN’S HDT TANKS DOESN’T TURN INTO A TRAGEDY

As the sports announcer said José Geraldo de Almeida, famous for narrating Brazil’s games in the 70’s World Cup, “It was close, but very close indeed” that Sunday (17) does not end with a tragedy of great proportions in the installation work of the tanks for the new Replan HDT, in Paulínia (SP). The tanks are being built using a technique of coupling the roof to the side, insufflating air to levitate and then welding the dome. This service had already been carried out successfully on six 60-ton tanks, but on the 120-ton tank, it did not work. Thank God, no one was injured and the damage was only material. The accident, which can be seen in images obtained by Petronotícias, left no injuries, but created a major doubt in the assembly engineering. There needs to be a major investigation to see where the fault was. In assembly, inspection or both. We know that in projects like these, even to go to the bathroom, Petrobrás requires a plan. Let’s wait and see if the accident will be investigated and if the causes will be revealed. [ASSISTA AO VÍDEO COMPLETO DO MOMENTO DO ACIDENTE AO FINAL DESTA REPORTAGEM]

Replan’s HDT work really looks like it has urucubaca. Since the result of the bidding was revealed, in May 2022, great doubts have arisen. As always, the company’s famous bidding committee, which appears to have as much power as the Minister Alexandre de Moraes in the STF, he stuck his finger and reversed the result, taking away the victory of an Italian-Brazilian consortium and handing over the work to the Japanese company Toyo, even though the Japanese came in second place, with much higher prices. To remember, We will now go back to detailing the problem that occurred, which ended up in court, but even so, the very powerful and untouchable committee gave in or obeyed the company’s rules. It has its own rules, which are almost always misunderstood.

At the time, the president of Petrobrás was José Mauro, but the Bidding Committee imposed its decision, like a republic within the company and gave a new demonstration of its arrogance and autonomy by signing a contract with Toyo Setal, also involved in the Lava Jato allegations, with a price of US$200 million more expensive than the winning consortium, totaling approximately R$2.1 billion. She did this after disqualifying the consortium formed by AES Union- Grupo Rosseti-Saipem, which came in first place with a price of around R$ 1.9 billion, within the Petrobrás parameter, but was disqualified because part of the proposal did not it was written in English. The case ended up in federal court, but so what? Petrobrás is Petrobrás, and it ignored its own illegality and signed the contract with the company it wanted. It seemed to everyone like a game of marked cards.

In addition to AES Brasil, the Italian-Brazilian consortium brought the experience of the Rosseti Group in large works and also of Saipem

At the time of the bidding result, at the end of January 2022, Petronotícias brought the case public, when the president of the state-owned company was still General Silva and Luna. But not even his authority was respected. The company’s compliance? This goes for your suppliers. Unless it is more advantageous for the state-owned company to pay R$2.1 billion, for a project that has a price tag of just over R$1.9 billion. To get an exact idea, just ask: would our reader pay a price with that difference for the same work?

The inauguration of Replan’s HDT unit is scheduled for 2025, when the company will be able to increase its production of S-10 diesel by 63 thousand barrels per day (bpd) and aviation kerosene by 12.5 thousand bpd. Replan is the largest refinery in Brazil in terms of processing capacity, with a load of 434 thousand bpd. In addition to diesel oil, the refinery produces gasoline, aviation kerosene, asphalt, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and propylene, among other petroleum derivatives. The implementation of Replan’s new HDT is part of Petrobrás’ strategy to increase its production capacity for S-10 diesel, with a low sulfur content. See what the prices proposed by bidders looked like at the time.

1st – AES UNION – (with Rosseti Group and Saipem)

Project (R$ 86,829,000.00);

Construction (R$ 1,801,493,000.00)

Total (R$ 1,888,322,000.00)

2nd – TOYO SETAL EMPREENDIMENTOS CONSORTIUM/TOYO ENGINEERING –

Project (R$ 165,573,230.00)

Construction (R$ 1,929,915,170.00)

Total (R$ 2,095,488,440.00)

3rd – RIO PETRÓLEO EQUIPMENT AND MANAGEMENT –

Project (R$ 132,108,000.00)

Construction (R$ 1,965,245,000.00)

Total (R$ 2,097,353,000.00)

It seemed to be a game of marked cards and Toyo Setal was supposed to win. It was there that the big surprise started to appear. As the documents delivered do not were in the “Petrobrás model”, that is, they did not follow the protocol imposed by the company, the state-owned company disqualified the company AES Union from the contest. It is worth mentioning that the decision was surprising and without any meaning or support in the notice. Especially because this problem highlighted by Petrobrás could be adjusted in hours. AES even charged Petrobrás the regulatory deadline of two business days to adjust the pointed inconsistencies in the documents presented in the qualification, as guaranteed by the notice and in strict accordance with the understanding of the Federal Audit Court (TCU). In response, the company received a negative response and a kiss on the shoulder. The claim was denied. The day after AES Union was disqualified, it started trading with TOYO, which came in second place. The case is in court in Rio de Janeiro, but the contract was still signed.