Petrobras launched a bidding process to complete the Polo GasLub project, the new name of the former Comperj. The project, located in the municipality of Itaboraí (RJ), was interrupted in 2015 after the discovery of cases of corruption involving works in the complex. In the following years, the oil company abandoned the construction of refining and lubricant units.
Recently, in 2020, the then president of the state-owned company, Roberto Castello Branco, proposed changing the name of the complex, which he called the “cemetery of corruption”, to Gaslub.
The state-owned company argues that the resumption of the works, which cost 14 billion reais in bribes, overpricing and changes to the project, should generate 10 thousand direct and indirect jobs. Furthermore, the new refining units will have the capacity to produce around 12 thousand bpd (barrels per day) of lubricating oils, in addition to 75 thousand bpd of S-10 diesel and 20 thousand bpd of QAV-1 (aviation kerosene).
“The hiring is a milestone for the resumption of Polo GasLub and with it the company once again invests in a project of great importance not only for Petrobras, but for Rio de Janeiro and the whole of Brazil”, stated the president of Petrobras, Jean Paul Prates, in a statement released by the company.
Furthermore, the director of Industrial Processes and Products at Petrobras, William França, argues that resurrecting the “cemetery of corruption” It is a positive strategy for the oil company. “The company’s decision reinforces the strategy of maintaining its operations with assets focused on the proximity between the supply of oil and gas and the consumer market“, said the director.
In January this year, the oil company resumed work on the Abreu e Lima Refinery, in Pernambuco, which had been paralyzed since 2015 due to Lava Jato investigations and reports from the TCU (Federal Audit Court) of overbilling of at least 2.1 billion of reais during the project works.
The works in Abreu e Lima consumed around 90 billion reais before the stoppage in 2015 and, it is estimated, that the resumption and expansion project will cost between 6 billion reais and 8 billion reais now.
Brazil is definitely back, as government officials like to say.
