Government tries to change decision on fuel prices at Petrobras

The board of directors of Petrobras discusses this Wednesday (27) a proposal to change the decision center on the prices of fuels sold by the state-owned company, in another advance by the government on the company’s management.

The proposal provides that decisions on readjustments will be given by the board of directors — today, it is made by a committee formed by the company’s president and by the directors of Logistics and Commercialization and Finance.

The government is preparing to elect a new council, with names more aligned with the Bolsonaro administration, in an assembly on August 19. The list is made up mostly of public office holders and, for the first time since the Dilma Rousseff government, has a member of the Planalto Palace.

The assembly will elect 8 of the 11 seats on the board — another three are already occupied by representatives of minority shareholders and company employees. The government nominated eight names and the company’s largest private shareholder, Banco Clássico, another two.

The list has two names already rejected by internal governance bodies due to the possibility of conflict of interest: the executive secretary of the Ministry of Civil House, Jhonatas Assunção, and the attorney general of the National Treasury, Ricardo Soriano.

The attempt to change the governance of pricing policy is part of an effort to contain fuel prices and reverse damage to the government’s image on the eve of the elections. In this process, the most effective measures so far have been federal and state tax cuts.

In four straight weeks of decline since the passing of the tax laws, the price of fuel has already dropped 20.3% at pumps. Last week, the liter cost, on average, R$ 5.89 per liter this week.

The trend is for the scenario to continue this week, with transfers of the 4.9% cut promoted by Petrobras in its refineries on Tuesday (19).

This Monday (25), at a lunch with businesswomen and executives in São Paulo, President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) said he could make new changes at Petrobras, while talking about fuel prices.

The government’s latest moves in relation to the company already generate alerts in the financial market about the risk of setbacks in the governance system implemented after Operation Car Wash.

“Another electoral opportunism by Bolsonaro and his team of sycophants,” said the general coordinator of the FUP (Federação Único dos Petroleiros), Deyvid Bacelar, in a note, who is in favor of changes in the calculation of prices.

“Less than three months before the elections, the President of the Republic says he is concerned about the abusive rise in fuel prices practiced throughout his government”.