Bolsonaro says changing president and directors is to end Petrobras’ black box

President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) said this Monday (30) that he seeks to change the presidency and board of Petrobras to end what he called a “black box” in the company’s pricing policy.

“We changed the Minister of Mines and Energy and we are now looking to change the president of Petrobras”, he said in an interview with Sikêra Jr, from TV A Crítica, recorded last Saturday (28), on a trip to Manaus (AM).

“It’s a black box many times, you don’t have information. As for the PPI, we want to know the mechanics of it,” he said. The president then said that he has “a week to get it there [informações sobre PPI]”. “Look at the difficulty”, he complained.

The term black box has already been widely used by the president to refer to the BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development).

The institution even spent BRL 48 million on a consultancy, which found no evidence of corruption in eight investigated operations. Later, Bolsonaro went on to say that there was never a black box at BNDES.

On the 11th, Bolsonaro exchanged the Minister of Mines and Energy, Bento Albuquerque, for Adolfo Sachsida, then a member of Paulo Guedes’ team.

A week later, he changed the command of the state-owned company, appointing the secretary of Debureaucratization, Management and Digital Government at the Ministry of Economy, Caio Paes de Andrade.

Although appointed, he should only assume the post in about 60 days. Paes de Andrade is Bolsonaro’s fourth name for the state-owned company in which he says he does not interfere.

The exchanges took place amid successive rises in fuel prices, due to the increase in international values, pulled by the war in Ukraine. The president has shown special concern with the price of diesel – the latest adjustment motivated the most recent change in the company.

The Chief Executive, however, ruled out the risk of an eventual shortage of diesel, which has worried truck drivers. The category is part of the electoral base of the president, who seeks to be reelected this year.

“If you miss today [diesel], for approximately 40 days you still guarantee the diesel. You’re going to run a campaign to save money, right, and you have approximately 40 days,” she said.

According to Bolsonaro, Petrobras’ statute establishes that the fuel price readjustment does not need to be automatic, but that it could occur within up to a year.

The state-owned company does not carry out automatic increases, but due to the statute and laws to which it is subject, it cannot hold the readjustment, as it follows market values.

Bolsonaro declared, in a plaintive tone, that Petrobras “is practically autonomous”. “What are we trying to do now, via MME [Ministério de Minas e Energia]that the minister was changed, he wants to change the president of Petrobras, to put a new board so that Petrobras’ numbers are exposed to public opinion, and not be practically a black box as it is today”, he added.

This was the first time that the president openly admitted that he seeks to change the command of the company, which came into his sights after successive increases in fuel prices.

He attacked the company, at different times, during the interview released on Monday, and said that it does not need this “excessive profit” and that it “has no responsibility and wants to take more money from the people”.

The company paid R$44 billion in dividends in the first quarter.

The announcement was made a week before a new adjustment in the price of diesel, which motivated Bolsonaro’s anger against the then president of the company, José Mauro Ferreira Coelho.