BNA Instruction No. 2/20, of 30 March 2020, determined that petroleum companies and banking financial institutions wishing to trade foreign currency must do so through the Bloomberg negotiation platform, FXGO.

The Instruction sets out the relevant procedures within the scope of FXGO and applies to: i) the sale of foreign currency by the National Concessionaire and by domestic and foreign petroleum companies, irrespective of their status as operators, including entities engaged in the production of liquefied natural gas; ii) the purchase and sale of foreign currency on the interbank market; and iii) the purchase and sale of foreign currency by BNA, under certain circumstances.

The Instruction determines that petroleum companies and banking financial institutions must enter into a subscription agreement with Bloomberg for the acquisition of a negotiation terminal in order to have access to FXGO.

Sales by petroleum companies of foreign currency of less than USD 500,000, or the equivalent in another currency, may be negotiated directly with one or more banking financial institutions in which the Company in question holds a deposit account, without recourse to FXGO. However, the fractioning of foreign currency sales for the purpose of avoiding negotiating the operation through FXGO is not permitted.

Any petroleum company or banking financial institution wishing to carry out the foreign exchange transactions covered by this Instruction and which has not completed the process of subscribing to the negotiation terminal by the day of publication of the Instruction must immediately inform the BNA, in writing, stating the reasons for such a situation and advising the date envisaged for the completion of access to FXGO.

Finally, the Instruction determines the sanctions to which banking financial institutions and petroleum companies will be subject should they fail to meet their obligations in the context of any trading through FXGO.

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