Oil-worker strike hits Brazilian refineries

Al Greenwood

02-Nov-2015

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Brazil’s oil-worker union (FUP) called for a strike on Sunday, covering all of Petrobras’s operations, including its refineries.

FUP called the strike to protest the company’s business plan for 2015-2019, which cut spending by 37% to $130.3bn as compared with the previous 2014-2018 plan.

For downstream and distribution operations, Petrobras plans to spend $12.8bn, versus $38.7bn in its previous plan. 

If Petrobras continues making cuts, it could threaten the creation of 20m jobs by 2019, FUP said.

Already, 15,000 metal workers in the nation’s shipbuilding industry have lost their jobs during the first half of the year, the union said. The cuts threaten 30,000 jobs in Brazil’s petrochemical sector. Thousands of outsourced workers have either lost their jobs or face the prospects of becoming unemployed.

The union named eight refineries that are participating in the strike. Workers in the states of Minas Gerais and Parana were to join the strike on Monday.

In addition to fuel, refineries also produce feedstock for petrochemicals. It is unclear if or how the strike will affect raw materials in Brazil.

The country’s largest petrochemical producer, Braskem, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Petrobras said contingency teams were operating in some of its plants, without specifying which ones. Other plants are being blocked.

The company is taking all measures to maintain production and guarantee supplies to the market, Petrobras said.

The following lists Petrobras’s refineries in Brazil as of 31 December 2014.

Refinery

Location

Capacity (bbl/day)

LUBNOR

Fortaleza, Ceara

8,000

RECAP (Capuava)

Capuava, Sao Paulo

53,000

REDUC (Duque de Caxias)

Duque de Caxia, Rio de Janeiro

239,000

REFAP (Alberto Pasqualini)

Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul

201,000

REGAP (Gabriel Passos)

Betim, Minas Gerais

157,000

REMAN (Isaac Sabba)

Manaus, Amazonas

46,000

REPAR (Presidente Getulio Vargas)

Araucaria, Parana

208,000

REPLAN (Paulinia)

Paulinia, Sao Paulo

415,000

REVAP (Henrique Lage)

Sao Jose dos Campos, Sao Paulo

252,000

RLAM (Landulpho Alves)

Mataripe, Bahia

315,000

RPBC (Presidente Bernardes)

Cubatao, Sao Paulo

170,000

RPCC (Potiguar Clara Camarao)

Guamare, Rio Grande do Norte

38,000

RNEST (Abreu e Lima)

Ipojuca, Pernambuco

74,000

Additional reporting by Simon West

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