Bolsonaro pick to lead Brazil’s Petrobras steps aside: media

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Bolsonaro pick to lead Brazil’s Petrobras steps aside: media

9:02 CAT | 05 Apr 2022

FILE PHOTO - A logo of Brazil's state-run Petrobras oil company is seen at its headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil October 16, 2019. [File photo: Reuters/Sergio Moraes]

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s nominee for chief executive of state-run oil company Petrobras, economist Adriano Pires, withdrew his name from consideration Monday, media reports said.

Investors had reacted positively to Pires’s nomination to lead the oil giant, but the 30-year industry veteran came under scrutiny from regulators for potential conflicts of interest for his role heading an energy consulting firm.

The reports of his withdrawal come a week after the Bolsonaro administration announced the president had decided to remove the oil giant’s CEO, Joaquim Silva e Luna, and replace him with Pires.

The shake-up followed Bolsonaro repeatedly criticizing Petrobras for increasing gasoline and diesel prices, which has fed inflation and helped dent his popularity heading into October elections that polls currently place him on track to lose.

Petrobras is due to hold a board meeting on April 13, where it had been expected to confirm Pires’s nomination.

Brazil’s federal comptroller’s office had said it may need to investigate potential conflicts of interest before Pires, who co-founded a consulting firm called the Brazilian Infrastructure Center (CBIE), could take over at Petrobras.

Petrobras shares were down 0.8 percent in afternoon trading in Sao Paulo.

The latest Petrobras headache for Bolsonaro comes a day after his pick to head the firm’s board of directors, Rodolfo Landim, announced he, too, was withdrawing from consideration.

Landim, who is also the president of Brazil’s most popular football club, Flamengo, said he needed to concentrate on the team.

Fuel prices have increased 33 percent in Brazil over the past year, hurting Brazilians’ wallets in a clutch election year.

Bolsonaro has already changed the chief executive at Petrobras once, replacing Roberto Castello Branco in February 2021 — also after criticizing the firm’s price increases.

Source: AFP