May 3, 2022

14:05

Priscilla Peixoto – Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – The Gas Company of Amazonas (Cigás) assured on Monday, 2, that the State will not be the target of tariff adjustments for Natural Gas (NG). The information was published through a note released by the institution, three days after Petrobras announced readjustment referring to the product for distributors across the country in 19% on average.

According to Petrobras, the new values would start to be valid as of Sunday, the 1st. But Cigás alleges that the product supply contract with the state company follows another criterion. “The Amazonas Gas Company (Cigás) guarantees that the Natural Gas (NG) tariffs practiced in the state will not be readjusted. The concessionaire of the public service of distribution and commercialization of the input in Amazonas clarifies that the announcement made by Petrobras, of an increase in the sales prices of NG, for the distributors in the country, does not affect the state.

“The reason is that the supply contract signed with Petrobras foresees another readjustment methodology for the price of natural gas, based on inflationary indexes, and the transfers occur in the months of November and January”, informs an excerpt of the note.

Tariffs and consumption

In a note, the company clarifies: “The natural gas tariffs practiced in the state of Amazonas are approved by the Granting Authority (State Government) at each tariff adjustment or review, according to the Concession Agreement and other rules in effect,” the note states that more details are placed in tariff tables published in the Official State Journal (DOE) and posted on the company’s website.

It is worth remembering that the increase in the value is not intended for the cooking gas (cylinder) consumed in the homes of the country. The readjustment is focused on natural gas for vehicles and piped gas installed in some homes. The increase will impact, mainly, the industry, one of the sectors that consumes more of the product.

The readjustment is valid until July 31, according to the state-run company, which also pronounced itself on the subject, through a note, highlighting that one of the factors related to the increase is the dollar, resulting in a higher percentage than usual.

“The quarterly update for gas and annual for transportation mitigates momentary volatility and ensures predictability and transparency. The contracts are public and disclosed on the ANP (National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels) website.

Petrobras clarifies that the final price of natural gas to consumers is determined not only by the company’s sales price, but also by distributor margins (and, in the case of NGV, by resale stations) and by federal and state taxes. Besides this, the tariff approval process is carried out by the state regulatory agencies, according to specific legislation and regulations”, the text points out.

According to the Brazilian Association of Piped Gas Distributors (Abegás), natural gas is consumed by an average of 3,600 industries and more than 40,000 businesses.

IBP also speaks out

With a note entitled ‘The fuel prices in Brazil’, the Brazilian Institute of Oil and Gas (IBP) highlights the challenge faced in the fuel market and informs that the governments around the world have been trying to mitigate the impacts on the population, formulating protection methods to prevent “social tragedies such as the deprivation of residential heating”.

“In Brazil, as a way to mitigate the problems, several alternatives have been evaluated, and the sanction of Law 192/2022 goes exactly in this direction, by defining the fuels on which the ICMS will be levied only once, with a single aliquot nationwide, establishing a uniform tax burden in all states and the Federal District.

Taxes represent an important part of fuel prices. In the case of gasoline, for example, PIS/COFINS/CIDE taxes account for about 10%. The portion referring to state taxes (ICMS) corresponds to about 24%, on the national average, but reaching 34% in some states.

The tax complexity related to the portion of the state tax (ICMS) makes it difficult for society to perceive its real impact on fuel prices. For this reason, as foreseen in the Law 192/2022, it is important that the States advance in the regulation of tax simplification, with the introduction of monofasia, and uniform rates per product throughout the country, giving greater transparency to society,” explained the report.