The Portland business, a big headache for the government

Considering that from these facilities the fuel for airports, the government raised the alarm in the face of a possible impact on the supply and, therefore, on the normal operation of the air terminal during the July holidays. For this reason, the president Luis Lacalle Pou He communicated with two of his ministers.

Two headaches for Ancap and the government due to the conflict with Fancap

On the one hand, with the Labor and Social Security (MTSS), Pablo Miereswho in turn communicated with the president of the PIT-CNT, Marcelo Abdala, with the proposal to postpone the opening of the tender for 60 days ongoing to find a private partner in portland in exchange for the union lifting all measures.

This was rejected by Fancap, as reported by El País, and they only gave in temporarily regarding the supply of air fuel with a momentary suspension of the initiatives related to the supply of airports since it seems to them “much more important” to continue with the conflict in Portland. “We give them the A-1 jet because our conflict is not aimed at depletingbut we continue fighting, we do not want 60 days” of extension in the Portland tender, “we reject it outright”, they indicated from Fancap.

On the other hand, the president also called the minister of Industry, Energy and Mining (MIEM), Omar Paganinifor another matter, since although air connectivity was ensured for the moment, the union’s decision not to suspend all the measures brings another problem: the impossibility of Ancap making the maintenance shutdown of the refinery The Tile, scheduled for September 4 and with a duration of four months.

For now, it is already known that the initially scheduled date will not be reached because the last week of unemployment prevented progress with the preparations, and that economically complicates the state company: for each week that the stoppage of units is postponed, you must pay $300,000 for lost profits to the companies that it contracted to carry out the maintenance works.

In turn, the more the conflict spreads, the more the margin in which maintenance operations can still be started will be reduced. From the union they affirm that if the bidding document in Portland is withdrawn, they are willing to offer the necessary working conditions for shutdown of units and maintenance of the refinery. Otherwise, they will not offer that special regime.

In parallel, the president of Ancap, Alejandro Stipanicic He has already assured that with or without a refinery operating, the state oil company will continue to ensure the supply of fuel. The theme will be how expensive or cheap it is for Ancap to import fuel from abroad given that the government will continue to set fuel rates in relation to the Import Parity Price (PPI)even if that is detrimental to the finances of the public company.

The political factor of the discussion

While the trade union element is the main protagonist of the problem, also the political factor is present: at an official level, the government’s position is still to continue with the bidding process in portland, but there is a sector that wants to abandon the process of associating Ancap with a private company in portland.

In this sense, from the Paysandú Municipality transferred to the secretary of Chair, Alvaro Delgado, the concern that there is among the nationalists of that department for the possible negative effects that the entry of a private person to portland may have on their territory in the face of the 2024 electionconsidering that it is an administration that the broad front disputes him.

Also, the leader of Open Town Hall, Guido Manini Ríos, received the Fancap authorities in his office this Wednesday and, according to union sources, the senator conveyed his support to “block the tender”; while the opposition bench presented a minute on Wednesday in which it requests the Executive Branch to suspend the call for bids in the Portland business.