Almost everyone asks the wrong question. ‘Can I register?’ has an easy answer: Petronect profiles are open. The question that determines whether the effort is worthwhile is this — do Petrobras’ supply lists contain a family matching what your company sells? If not, registration opens no opportunities; it only puts you in a queue that never calls your name.
The family connects what you do with what Petrobras buys
In the official definition, a family is a group of similar goods that, because of their size, manufacturing process and technology, are manufactured and/or marketed together. Put simply: it is the code saying ‘my company supplies this’. Lists are organised by type (Goods, Services and LCF) and segment — from Yellow Pages (lower-criticality items) to Strategic.
The family is not just a label — it defines the process
The family determines whether your registration is Corporate or Simplified and, therefore, which criteria you must prove. It also determines what reaches you afterwards: Petrobras emails companies registered in the families associated with the scope whenever it publishes a new tender notice, and says registration in the families of interest is essential for Automated Selections (value-based direct awards). Choosing a family is the registration decision with the greatest cost implications — and identification details cannot be changed after confirmation.
Where CNAE fits (and where it does not help)
CNAE is the economic activity classification used by Brazil’s Federal Revenue Service. It identifies what your company has declared it does — the best starting point available, because it is public and objective. But we must be honest about its limits.
There is no official table converting CNAE codes into families
We searched: Petrobras publishes no official mapping between CNAE codes and supply families. They are two different vocabularies — CNAE describes economic activity; a family describes what Petrobras buys. Anyone promising automatic conversion is approximating, not consulting an official document. Matching always requires case-by-case reading.
What is documented, and matters greatly: the Legal criterion examines your Articles of Association — where the company’s corporate purpose is stated. A corporate purpose that does not cover what you intend to supply is a problem that comes before family selection, and is resolved at the Commercial Registry, not on Petronect.
How to check in practice
- 1
Describe what you sell in one sentence
The actual item or service (‘stainless steel ball valves’, ‘industrial electrical maintenance’), not a code or trading name. This is the phrase to look for in the lists.
- 2
Check the Articles of Association
The corporate purpose must cover that supply. If it does not, amend it first — the Articles of Association are a Legal criterion document.
- 3
Search Petronect’s supply lists
The lists can be consulted on the portal, separated by type. Search for what the item is, not your internal name for it: the lists use the buyer’s terminology.
- 4
Check which registration type the family requires
Found the family? You now know whether it requires Corporate Registration (with financial and HSE assessment) or Simplified Registration — and what you must prove.
What if there is no obvious fit?
Not finding a match straight away is common and does not mean the door is closed. Before giving up — or forcing a fit with any family — consider four scenarios:
- What you supply exists under another name: the lists use Petrobras’ procurement terminology, not your industry’s.
- Your supply spans more than one family: you can register in several, but each brings its own criteria — more families mean more to prove, not automatically better chances.
- You supply inputs to an existing supplier: in that case, selling to the registered supplier may be the route, rather than registering directly.
- There really is no matching family: registration solves nothing today, and the money is better spent on another channel.
Do not choose a ‘similar’ family just to get in
The wrong family has two costs: you receive invitations you cannot fulfil and miss those you could. Worse, it may require Corporate Registration and make you prove financial and HSE criteria that your actual family would not require. Identification details cannot be edited after confirmation.
This is exactly what the diagnostic answers
This analysis — taking your CNPJ, examining what the company actually does and matching it to the families Petrobras procures — is what the Full Diagnostic provides: a formal report with compatible families, gaps in each criterion and the next steps in the right order, plus 30 minutes with a specialist, with the cost fully credited if you hire our advisory service. If there is no compatible family, we say so: charging for registration that will not open opportunities makes no sense.
View the Full Diagnostic