Auction of the STS 08 fuel terminal in Santos receives no private bids

One of the fuel terminals at the Port of Santos, STS 08, did not receive a single proposal from any private group. The bidding is scheduled for this Friday (Nov. 19), and the delivery of bids took place on Tuesday (Nov. 16). But a proposal was received for another liquid bulk terminal at the port, the STS 08A. The market forecast is that this contract will remain with Petrobras, which currently operates both areas through a precarious contract with its subsidiary Transpetro.

The estimated investment in STS 08 was R$ 265.5 million, which will not be contracted. BRL 792 million of works and improvements should be carried out over the next 25 years in the STS 08A area, which is larger.

Initially, the expectation was for lots of competition for the terminals. In fact, some groups such as Santos Brasil even studied the auction. However, the perception of the private sector is that the investment risk would be too high.

The main fear is related to political uncertainties regarding the pricing policy of Petrobras, which would be a competitor of the new operator, according to a source. One of the main possibilities that had been studied was to use the terminal to handle imported fuel. However, the private operator would be exposed to a possible change in the direction of Petrobras’ management — with a change in pricing policy, the company would run the risk of losing competitiveness and having to buy fuel from the state-owned company itself.

Another relevant factor that has impacted all infrastructure projects is the increase in input prices.

With the absence of interested parties for STS 08, the operation of the site is not yet closed, but there would be a possibility for Transpetro to continue operating in an interim manner at the site. The Petrobras subsidiary has been operating the entire area since 1993.

Source: Valor Econômico

To read the full original article, visit the link:

https://valor.globo.com/empresas/noticia/2021/11/16/leilao-terminal-combustiveis-porto-santos-sts-08-propostas.ghtml

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