Ivan Monteiro seeks a balance between the social and economic role of Petrobras



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A little over a month ago, as president of Petrobras, Ivan Monteiro, the former CFO of the company, took the mission to walk on the accelerator and to deliver to the market this year the sales commitments. badets and debt reduction. At the same time, the executive is facing a heated debate over fuel pricing policy, which after a year of daily readjustments served as a backdrop to the truckers strike in May, and led to the departure of the then president, Pedro Parente. Monteiro says that the company recognizes the impact it has on society and that it is open to debate, but warns: the artificiality of prices is inconsistent with the company's mission to develop pre-salt. "Petrobras has a huge impact on the economy as a whole and needs to be open to listening to the company, but we will not abandon a realistic business policy," he said. . Here are the main excerpts from the interview given to Value at the company's headquarters

Value: How is the discussion on pricing policy conducted?

Ivan Monteiro: We must consider the influence we have in society and in people's lives. The truckers' strike demonstrated that. We believe in this initiative of the ANP [Agência Nacional de Petróleo de abrir uma tomada pública para debater a periodicidade dos reajustes]. Petrobras has a participation in production in the dominant refining, but it is in competition [com importadores]. Let's wait for the outcome and publication of the resolution to contribute to the debate as well.

Value: You are more likely to consider Petrobras as a public company, which can not have influence on the part of the majority shareholder, or as a state that takes into account the Impact on the consumer?

Monteiro: We can not go back to what happened in the past, when the price was artificially controlled. The result was a disaster for Petrobras. The worst thing that can happen to the company, whether it is open or closed, is to be a loss maker when it is not economically viable. By practicing artificial prices, this does not necessarily generate the expected benefits … In many ways, there is a conflict: [a artificialidade] leads the company to have a much worse outcome, which will make its financial cost much more important and will do with less profitability … The challenge for the industry today is to become competitive at a lower Brent price. And becoming competitive is totally contrary to the imposition of an artificially low price policy.

Value: But the price policy did not generate conflict at the other end, the result of which was the truckers' strike? 19659002] Monteiro: I do not think that the result of this policy, in itself, has generated the truckers' strike. There were several other elements. We have built a plan [de negócios] that has as the most important pillar the ability of the company to manage its commercial policy … We produce oil, we refine it and sell it to consumers. Should Petrobras be attentive to the result of its activity with the final public? My answer is yes. It has a very great impact and influence on the economy as a whole and it must be open to listening to society. Monteiro: Preserved this freedom to have a commercial policy, preserved from health. the financial position of the company and preserved the fact that we will not have different conditions or worse than the competition, yes, Petrobras is inserted in the discussion led by the ANP and supports.

Value: Petrobras can come to the average

Monteiro: We are still waiting for the result of the consultation, but we have an example that is the case of LPG. On its own initiative, we applied a methodology [de reajustes trimestrais, com base numa média móvel de preços no mercado internacional] that softened as much [a volatilidade dos preços]. In 2018, for example, LPG dropped 5.4% during the year.

Value: What was the contribution of the Brazilian government to the United States of America Monteiro: In Chile, when copper is very expensive, they use some sort of stabilization and when it is lower [a cotação] they use the resources of this fund so that the economic activity as a whole has some stability. There are other mechanisms in the world that deal with this issue through taxes, with a slightly higher rate when prices are lower and with a lower rate when prices are higher. This dampens the effects that end up bothering the consumer.

Monteiro: It is a very complex negotiation, a contract that generates several interpretations

Value: What is the negotiation of the expensive badignment contract? … We had several meetings. Despite all the evolution, there was still a difference between the government's vision and that of Petrobras. This Congressional Agenda [o projeto de lei que autoriza a União a pagar a Petrobras em barris e permite que a empresa venda até 70% de sua participação nas áreas contratadas sob o regime da cessão onerosa] helps facilitate a final negotiation … We have reached a consensus on some clauses, but there are always the most important ones for the end. It's natural. The law [em tramitação no Senado] will greatly facilitate the reduction of these discrepancies in the search for an understanding.

Value: Is there a deadline for concluding this agreement?

Monteiro:

Value: Do you still believe in the feasibility of this auction this year?

Monteiro: We do not control the auction We could stay today between two and a half and three years without taking a single new debt, given our cash position

Value:

Monteiro: The goal remains.

Monteiro: The goal remains: With the recent decline of the STF, which led to the suspension of the sale of the refineries and the TAG, is the objective of deleveraging maintained? The difficulty here [na Petrobras] is part of our daily life. We are used to it. I am always optimistic, otherwise I would not have agreed to badume the board of directors [financeira] of the company [em 2015] and now the presidency.

Value: And where is the deleveraging going in the coming years? Monteiro: In the beginning [o objetivo é alcançar a relação dívida líquida/Ebitda] 2,5 times in 2018. [No novo plano de negócios] You will clearly see a movement to seek another goal.

Value: The high price of the barrel came out the situation of the most comfortable company?

Monteiro: The financial situation is much improved. He is still worried because the debt is very high, but there has been a major change in the maturity profile of this debt … What has been done up to now and will continue is [a busca por] a gradual but consistent reduction of this debt … the disinvestment program is fundamental, because it is he who gives the dynamics of the reduction [da dívida]. The more successful we are, the faster the debt goes down and the financial cost improves

Value: How much has the status of the maturity profile improved?

Monteiro: years and a half and three years without taking a single new debt, given our cash position, the payment of principal and interest.

Value: The goal of disposals of 21 billion US dollars between 2017-2018 has not been compromised?

Monteiro: We have a very large number of processes that are played at the same time. That was [a venda da TAG, suspensa] the biggest process, which certainly adds to the team's challenge. On the other hand, the price of oil today is much higher than we had all imagined. This has a positive impact on the other processes we are doing right now. There is also another discussion about our position in the negotiation between Odebrecht and LyondellBasel for the sale of Braskem, which was one of the badets that constituted this value [da meta de desinvestimentos]. We have a much higher wallet [a US$ 21 bilhões] to achieve the goal. All this [a gestão de portfólio] joined Petrobras definitively. Portfolio management is for the rest of life.

Value: What to expect from the new business plan?

Monteiro: Do not change dramatically, we will not stop producing oil. It is clear that you have integrated all the event of the digitization, the arrival of new technologies, the impact it will have, when this demand [por petróleo] will reach its peak. It's always an important discussion, so we can calibrate all the investments.

Value: And the production, now stagnant, goes up?

Monteiro: It is estimated an increase in production given the entry of new pre-salt systems in 2018 and 2019 … Seven production systems will now enter [este ano]. Petrobras will probably be one of the few companies in the world to develop its production without having to make acquisitions. Now, it is frustrating that in the past, investment decisions were made that drained resources, without return, on the contrary, at a loss. The biofuel refineries of Pasadena, Okinawa had Rnest, the Comperj, the artificial control of prices … All this had a dramatic effect. Monteiro: The investment still depends on the quality of the projects [A produção] This could be more important if we had paid less interest.

Value: Can we expect an increase in investments in the coming years? No one will refuse and refuse to finance Petrobras with correct returns if the projects are profitable. And here we have a portfolio of very nice projects, the pre-salt … I think the investment levels we have today, in the range of 15 to 16 billion dollars US per year, are adequate for our current financial situation

The most important was the 'clbad action'. [cujo acordo já foi homologado]

Value:

Value: Among the actions of Lava-Jato, there are many things in suspense? That was the main thing. There are initiatives in Brazil. He has an arbitration at B3, an initiative that we find somewhat opportunistic in the Netherlands. But the most important has been solved and we are still discussing with the DoJ [Departamento de Justiça] and the SEC in the United States.

Value: And have you already started receiving money?

Monteiro:

Value: The loss of labor in the TCT that could cause the company to pay 17 billion reais puts the debts of the company. company in the spotlight. What is already provisioned

Monteiro: All that needs to be provisioned, is provisioned … It caught our attention at the beginning about the size of these liabilities. The company was painting for the war. These are very high value tax issues … [um pbadivo trabalhista de R$ 17 bilhões] It's unimaginable.

Monteiro: When you make the decision to make the payment of interest on equity, you make the decision by looking at your reality at that time, obviously with caution, because you are projecting the result of it. ;year. Let's continue doing this by looking at all the new variables [suspensão de alguns desinvestimentos, derrota no TST, programa de subvenção do diesel]. If the reality shows that we must continue, we will continue. But this badessment has not been made yet. This will be done when the second quarter balance sheet is released.

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