Petrobras front office departures continue
Brazilian energy company Petrobras said in a March 24 announcement that several of its front-office staff were leaving in an apparent rebuke to Brazilian president Jair Bolsanaro.
Petrobras said the chief officers in the financial, upstream, trading, and development segments told the board of directors they would not be renewing their contractual terms.
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“The executive officers informed that this is not an act of resignation and that they are strictly committed to comply with all their duties and obligations until the inauguration of their respective successors, which should happen after the shareholders meeting to be held on April 12, 2021,” the company said.
The departures follow a rush to the exit from top executives at the Brazilian company that followed the late February firing of CEO Roberto Castello Branco.
Bolsonaro’s ire over a decision by Petrobras to hike fuel prices led to Branco’s departure. He was replaced by 71-year-old general Joaquim Silva e Luna, a former defense minister with no experience in the oil industry.
Fuel prices remain a politically sensitive issue in Brazil. Former CEO Pedro Parente resigned in 2018 after widespread protests by truckers against a decision by Petrobras to tie fuel prices to rates on international markets.
Bolsonaro has struggled to draw widespread public support since entering office in 2018, a situation compounded by his mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic and the vaccination process.
For its part, Petrobras has experienced a series of setbacks of its own this year, unloading its interest in offshore gas fields and selling off its Brazil-Bolivia gas pipeline.
After launching a tender in August, the company said February 1 it had failed to attract any binding bids for leases at its LNG import terminal and associated facilities in the northeast state of Bahia.
The Bahia terminal can import up to 700mn ft3/day, or 7.2bn m3/yr of gas, and is connected to two onshore delivery points via a 45-km pipeline.