According to an op-ed piece published by
Humberto Viana Guimarães on 02/26/13 in the Jornal
do Brasil (http://www.jb.com.br), the
Belgian company Astra Oil Trading purchased the idle Pasadena Refining System,
Inc. (PRSI) in Pasadena, TX, for US$ 42.5 million in January 2005. In November
of that year, the Brazilian national petroleum company, Petrobras, signed a
Memorandum of Understanding with Astra for the acquisition of a 50% interest in
the Pasadena Refinery, a sale which was completed in September of 2006 for
US$360 million, as reported by Jim Molony of the Pasadena Citizen. That’s an 850% increase in value over a period of
21 months. Guimarães emphasizes that it was a healthy return for Astra.
In June 2008, Petrobras initiated
arbitrage proceedings against Astra alleging failure to fulfill its obligations
as 50% co-owner of the PRSI. Astra responded in July 2008 with litigation to exercise several put-options that required
Petrobras to purchase the remaining 50% of PRSI. When the legal battle finally
settled, Petrobras had to pay US$ 830.5 million in July 2012. All told,
Petrobras paid a total of almost US$ 1.2 billion in 2012 for a refinery that
Astra bought for US$ 42.5 million seven years earlier. By November 2012, the
Energy Business Review (http://refiningandpetrochemicals.energy-business-review.com/)
reported that Petrobras was trying to sell PRSI to invest the proceeds in
off-shore drilling. The pertinent details also can be found on the PRSI
webpage: http://www.pasadenarefining.com/en/News.aspx.
The op-ed penned by Guimarães alleged
misuse of funds and incompetence in the entire transaction. He clamors for a
response from various political, judicial and trade entities, including
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. Other critics have suggested that monies
were siphoned from this and other transactions by powerful members of the
government and industrial sectors, as part of the scheme that involved senators
Renan Calheiros and José Sarney. The 02/26/13 op-ed provoked an immediate
response the next day from the Association of Engineers of Petrobras (Associação dos Engenheiros da Petrobras – AEPET), one of the
entities that Guimarães accused of keeping silent about the “scandal.” The
AEPET affirmed that it is actively involved in on-going investigations
including a public hearing in the Brazilian National Congress and the Brazilian
Attorney General’s office.
UP-DATE 03/12/13: Both the original
op-ed piece by Guimarães and the response from AEPET no longer appear in the
archives of the Jornal do Brasil, but
are available at: http://www.brasilnews.com.br/.
