A recent discovery of an oil and gas reservoir in Brazil’s Santos Basin by the multinational British Petroleum (BP) has sparked outrage among representatives of the country’s oil sector. The company won the block in a 2022 auction, held during former president Jair Bolsonaro’s administration, and will leave Brazil with just 5.6% of the surplus oil. For Tadeu Porto, director of the Petroleum Workers’ Union of Northern Fluminense (Sindipetro-NF), the operation reflects the dismantling of Brazil’s energy sovereignty.
“The losses are huge, and we see it with great indignation”, Porto said in an interview with Radio BdF. He explained that Petrobras, which previously had preference in production-sharing auctions, was sidelined after legal changes under former president Michel Temer (2016-2018) eliminated the requirement for the state company to operate all fields.
BP acquired the block offering only the minimum surplus required. “Petrobras usually leaves a surplus oil share of 10 to 15%. That goes directly to the Brazilian state, and we know the value of a barrel of oil”, he said.
Risk to technology and environment
Beyond lost revenue, Porto warned that handing out exploration to foreign companies such as BP, which has a history of environmental accidents and financial troubles, also weakens Brazil’s technological leadership in ultra-deepwater operations. “It’s like a soccer team reinforcing its rivals”, he compares.
Porto recalled environmental disasters, including Chevron’s 2010 spill and BP’s catastrophic 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. According to Porto, Brazil must protect its expertise and link oil exploration to a fair energy transition. “We have a plan for oil revenue to finance a just transition, including workers, within the framework of national sovereignty”, he said.
The union leader also criticized the privatization of Petrobras assets during Bolsonaro’s government such as refineries, distributors, and pipelines, which he says drove up fuel costs. “If you are paying high prices for stove gas or gasoline, it’s because Bolsonaro privatized BR Distribuidora, Liquigás, Gaspetro, pipelines, and refineries”, Porto said.
Social fund, labor rights, and investment
Porto advocates allocating a significant share of oil revenue to a social fund for sustainable public policies. “A social fund, which once reached US$22 billion, would help a lot with reforestation and retraining workers for cleaner industries”, he explained.
Speaking at the national plenary of the Unified Federation of Oil Workers (FUP, in Portuguese), Porto highlighted that discussions include defending labor rights, supplementary pensions, and workplace safety, along with strengthening Brazil’s domestic industry. “Right now, with Donald Trump’s tariff hikes, we realized how underdeveloped Brazil’s export market is”, he said.
He argued that the country needs to resume investments in refineries and heavy construction to add value to national production. “We were on the right path. Unfortunately, the United States attacked us with Operation Car Wash (or Operation Lava Jato), but we managed to recover. If we let [President] Lula do the great work he and [former president] Dilma Rousseff were doing, I’m sure we’ll get there, to become a sovereign country,” he said.
