Petrobras renegotiates Eletrobolt power purchase contract

Brazil's federal energy company Petrobras is renegotiating power purchase contracts from Enron's 380MW Eletrobolt thermoelectric plant to reduce financial expenditures, a Petrobras spokesperson told BNamericas. No details could be announced yet, the spokesperson said. The talks are part of Petrobras's strategy to reduce financial expenditure related to gas supply contracts for thermoelectric generators. The contracts, signed during the 2001-2002 power rationing, were part of the emergency thermoelectric program (PPT) put in place by the government. To attract investors, Petrobras would have minority stakes in the generators and guarantee gas supply through a local distributor but pay for the generating capacity independently of power produced. The country now has surplus power although the investments were made, forcing Petrobras to pay for energy not produced by the generators. The first 24 emergency thermal generators have been switched on in the northeast since December 27 because of lack of rainfall and rising demand. Petrobras spent 1.2bn reais (US$414mn) to pay Rio de Janeiro state-based Eletrobolt, as well as the Macae, TermoCeara, Termobahia and Ibiritermo plants, in the first nine months of 2003, newspaper Valor Economico reported. Petrobras had a similar contract with TermoRio, but bought 7% of the company from PRS last December, giving it control of the plant. Petrobras said the acquisition is part of plans to clean up its power sector portfolio. The company is also developing plans to make the gas sector more profitable by boosting the consumption of Bolivian gas in the country as it is also paying for the delivery of 30 million cubic meters a day (mcm/d) of Bolivian gas, while demand hovers at around 8mcm/d, the newspaper said.