São Paulo – Some six years ago, to artisan Maria da Conceição da Silva, Petrobras was just the name of a large company, which she had heard of on television and in advertising. From 2004 to date, however, Maria da Conceição has become an important little part in the engine that runs the Brazilian oil giant. The hands of the artisan are among those that weave the carnauba fibre used by the company. Little over six years ago, Petrobras started using mats made out of carnauba fibre to insulate the steam lines on their onshore wells.
Carnaúba is a tree that is abundant in the northeastern semi-arid, and an industrial wax is extracted from the plant. The fibre that remains after extraction is normally used for handicraft, in the production of hats, baskets, handbags and lamp shades. At Petrobras, however, the mats made from fibre are used as covers and protection for the steam lines, replacing aluminium plates. They serve as insulation, as the pipes transport high-temperature steam to lower the viscosity of oil prior to extraction.
Despite the great distance between oil and handicraft, it was through the production of items made out of carnauba leaves that women and men with low income in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, like Maria da Conceição, reached Petrobras. An almost theologist named Dario Gaspar Nepomuceno and his wife, Gracia Ramalho, as well as Petrobras technician João Batista Dantas played a special part in this process.
Dario and Gracia had been trying, for many years, to develop the work of artisans in the city of Assu, in Rio Grande do Norte, and the surrounding area, to help it take off. Nepomuceno, who studied theology, but did not graduate, and Gracia set up a group of artisans in Rio Grande do Norte and organised a fair for the trade of products. In the mean time, Dantas, who knew about the handicraft from Rio Grande do Norte, had the idea of using the carnauba mats to solve a problem Petrobras had with people stealing the aluminium plates they used for insulation, as well as generating income for the artisans. The meeting of both initiatives resulted in a perfect marriage.
Non-governmental organisation (NGO) Carnaúba Viva was established in September 2003 to guide the work of artisans and the group became a Petrobras supplier in mid 2004. The life of those participating improved. Maria da Conceição, who sold her handicraft at the market, together with her relatives, only made enough to buy supplies, but at one time made as much as 400 Brazilian reals a month (US$ 240 – almost the minimum wage in Brazil). Conceição lives in the city of Palheiros, at a settlement, and when income drops, she cannot send her kids to school. “It all depends on two cars. One belongs to the state, and another is private,” she said.
This year, for example, with the lower orders for the mats, her daughters, one aged 20 and the other 23, could not go to school. In 2010, Conceição hopes for things to go back to normal. According to Nepomuceno, the largest number of orders was delivered to Petrobras in 2007. Up to 3,000 items were sent a month. Apart from the mats, Carnaúba Viva also supplied the oil company with grates for protection of oil pipelines. In a tender halfway through this year, however, the NGO only won the contract to sell mats for the steam lines. With this, the group of artisans, which had included 500 people at one point, currently has only 150 members.
The almost theologist states that Carnaúba Viva has never made commercial contacts abroad, but is also interested in producing the mats for oil companies in other countries. It would be a way, according to him, to generate income for the artisans and work for more people. Currently, the collaborators in the group, mostly women, are spread throughout nine villages in the state of Rio Grande do Norte. The NGO, however, is headquartered in the city of Assu. In the centre of the city are the main installations and in the outskirts is a structure for waterproofing of the mats, prior to shipment to Petrobras.
*Translated by Mark Ament
