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The world is going through a process of profound transformation - impacting all sectors of society and the economy. With Petrobras, it is no different: we are undergoing major changes which converge towards an increasingly open and competitive energy market. Our business strategies thus reflect this effort to adapt and transform.
To secure our future and to continue investing, we need to be a financially healthy company, becoming better, stronger, more efficient, and more competitive. We want to be a high performance company, focused on oil and gas, aligned to the commitment of generating greater value and directing resources, with an emphasis on Exploration and Production activities in deep and ultradeep waters.
Concerning the natural gas market, our strategy consists of competitive operation in the commercialization of our own gas and optimizing the thermoelectric portfolio focusing on self-consumption.
Understand the New Gas Market
With the new Gas Act, which establishes a regulatory framework for the natural gas sector, Brazil is facing a great opportunity to boost its energy segment. The current changes for the opening of the gas market conciliate the interests of society and the various agents in the value chain, in addition to consolidating efforts to create an institutional model aligned with best international practices.
Our strategy is focused on acting competitively in the commercialization of our own gas and optimizing our thermoelectric portfolio, focusing on self-consumption.
With these actions, we seek to reconcile society's interests and consolidate efforts to create a model aligned with international best practices, fostering the development of an open, competitive and sustainable gas market in Brazil.
The process of opening up the Brazilian natural gas market has been occurring at an accelerated pace in recent years:
• Decree n. 9616/2018, from December 2018, brought important guidelines for the opening of the market, based on the knowledge consolidated by the Gas to Grow initiative, highlighting the organization of the transportation system by entry and exit; negotiated access by third parties to flow, processing and regasification facilities; and guidelines for opening up the gas market in federated states.
• New Gas Market - a program that established new initiatives to open the gas market and consolidated existing ones, with one highlight being the enactment of Resolution CNPE 16/2018, in June 2019, from the National Energy Policy Council, which established guidelines and policies to be observed by the sector's agents for market opening.
• Cease and Desist Agreement (TCC) signed between the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) and Petrobras - with this agreement, a relevant set of actions is being implemented by Petrobras, according to the established schedule, aiming at the opening up the Brazilian natural gas market, incentivizing the entry of new agents in the market.
• Approval of the Sinief (National System of Economic and Fiscal Information) adjustment for fiscal documents, which allows different agents to commercialize gas through pipelines, accounting for the contracting of transport services in the inbound and outbound logistics.
• In the legislative sphere, the opening-up process has advanced significantly, with the approval of Law 14,134/2021, from 04/08/2021, which established the new regulatory framework for the natural gas sector in the country, provisioning essential rules for the opening up of this market, and Decree 10,712/2021, from 06/02/2021, which regulates the new law. The approval of the law and the decree provides legal security to investors by allowing the structuring of a legal and regulatory framework in this new scenario.
All these changes, promoted within a few years, show that, in Brazil, the opening up of the gas market is happening faster than in most other countries that have undergone a similar process.
Cease and Desist Agreement with CADE (TCC)
As part of this process of opening the natural gas market, Petrobras signed a Cessation Commitment Term (TCC) in July 2019 with the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade), a federal agency linked to the Ministry of Justice and Public Safety. This document provides for a set of measures to reduce Petrobras' participation in the various links of the natural gas chain, and the consequent entry of new agents in the market.
We have fulfilled all our assumed commitments so far, and we continue to move forward with new actions, reinforcing our commitment to comply with the TCC and to develop a new gas market in the country.
Main commitments assumed by Petrobras under the TCC (aligned with the CNPE n° 16/2019 resolution guidelines):
Petrobras reaffirms its commitment to the milestones, some of which have been met ahead of schedule.
So far, Petrobras has already fulfilled the following commitments:
Divestments:
On the Petrobras Investor Relations website one can find the sessions with the publication of the teasers and the notices to the market, where relevant information about the evolution of the divestments foreseen in the TCC, as well as other projects, was disclosed. The link to the Investor Relations site can be accessed at the end of this page.
Negotiation of access to processing and flow:
Additionally, listed above the current swap agreements of natural gas for the sale of gas processed at the exit of the processing units listed below:
The swap contracts are transitory in nature and promote the anticipation of access to the necessary infrastructures, since Petrobras processes the gas produced that, after this stage, is repurchased by the companies, allowing them to directly access the transportation and the natural gas market.
Transport:
Negotiations with NTS continue to advance with a view to adapting the existing transportation service contracts, so that the carrier, under ANP supervision, can offer the remaining capacity to the market, on an entry-exit basis.
Regás:
The leasing process was completed. We signed the Receiving Agreement provisioned in the contract and transferred, on 12/04, the operation of the Bahia Liquefied Natural Gas Regasification Terminal (TR-BA) to Excelerate Energy Comercializadora de Gás Natural (Excelerate). The agreement was signed after the approval of the operation by the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE). We provided Excelerate support in obtaining the necessary licenses and authorizations, also complying with the previous conditions in the lease contract for the terminal operation. Excelerate's regasification vessel is positioned at TR-BA and with the transfer of the operation, Excelerate has the possibility of making natural gas available to the market leasing Todos os Santos Basin Regasification Terminal (TRBA), in Bahia, with publication of the public notice in August 2020 (ahead of the expected deadline of September 2020), and we will start a new competitive process in 2021.
On 09/17/2021 we published the competitive process for exceptional access to the TR-PECEM and Associated Facilities, in compliance with the determination of the Chamber of Exceptional Rules for Hydropower Management (CREG), in the terms of Letter nº 14/2021/CREG-MME of 08/09/2021, enabling the operational return of the terminal in the context of the exceptional situation of water crisis in the country. The process was closed without the receipt of a commercial proposal.
Any additional information concerning the completed processes (TRBA lease and TR-PECEM access) may be requested through LAI (an acronym in portuguese to Access to Information Law).
We also hired a Monitoring Trustee to oversee the execution of the actions, with the contract being signed on 07/01/2020, within the deadline provisioned in the TCC.
Additionally, we signed, on 03/06/2020, an additive term with Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB), a Bolivian state-owned company dedicated to the exploration, distillation, and sale of oil and its derivatives, reducing the purchase of 30 million m³/day to 20 million m³/day.
Resolution CNPE no. 16/2019 also provides for offering flexibility and network balancing services, duly remunerated, ensuring the security of the national supply during the transition period or while there are no other agents capable of offering these services. In line with this guideline, in 2020 we developed a flexible gas sales model aimed at network balancing for transportation companies. The model was presented to several agents of the natural gas sector (Ministry of Mines and Energy, Ministry of Economy, TCC Trustee, ATGÁS, IBP, ABEGAS and ANP).
The set of actions undertaken by Petrobras contributes to manufacturing agents marketing their own gas, thus stimulating the opening of the market.
All of these actions are in line with Petrobras' strategy of achieving lower leverage and increasing the focus on higher return activities, such as oil and gas exploration and production in the pre-salt. With this, the Company repositions itself in the natural gas business, focusing on the commercialization of its own gas, and encourages the development of an open, competitive and sustainable gas market in Brazil.
You will find on this page (links to documents in Portuguese):
TCC signed between
Cade and Petrobras
Acesse - Oferta de Processamento de GN 
Acesse - Oferta de escoamento de GN
Acesse - Oferta de Regaseificação de GNL
Site de Relações com Investidores
Site Cade com informações do TCC
Site MME - Novo Mercado de Gás