Petrobras approves R$ 43.7 billion in dividends and oil workers promise to go to court

Petrobras’ board of directors approved the distribution of R$ 43.7 billion in dividends to its shareholders, as remuneration for the third quarter of 2022, which will be released after the stock exchange closes this Thursday (3).

Associations linked to Petrobras workers unions promise to go to court to try to prevent a new distribution of resources on the eve of the change of government. They claim that the decision should be left to the company’s new management.

For the profit of the first two quarters, Petrobras distributed the record amount of R$ 136.6 billion in dividends to its shareholders. Adding the value of the third quarter, the performance of 2023 will have yielded R$ 180.3 billion to the state-owned shareholders.

In a note to the CVM (Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission), Petrobras defended that the value “is compatible with the company’s financial sustainability in the short, medium and long term and is in line with the commitment to generate value for society and shareholders.” .

With results inflated by the soaring price of oil, Petrobras was the biggest payer of dividends among publicly traded companies in the world during the first half of the year, according to a report by manager Janus Henderson.

The strategy of raising shareholder remuneration gained strength at the beginning of the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government, with a business plan that intensified asset sales and focused spending only on the pre-salt layer and on debt reduction.

FUP and Anapetro, an association that represents oil tankers, shareholders of the state-owned company, argue that the decision for the dividends should be left with the next management of the company, which will take over after the inauguration of president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).

The president of Anapetro, Mario Dal Zot, says in a note that the change in management should alter the company’s strategic planning. Lula’s government program talks about strengthening Petrobras and taking it back to segments from which it left in recent years.

“Any decision on dividends should be up to the company’s future management, and already considering the guidelines of a new controller”, says the law firm Advocacia Garcez, which represents oil workers and is preparing actions on the subject.

“The legislation determines that the approval of dividends is the responsibility of the annual general meeting, and not of the company’s board of directors”, he says. Shareholders’ meetings to discuss the year’s results and their destination usually take place in April.

The high distribution of Petrobras dividends is the target of criticism from the opposition and came to be questioned by the President of the Republic himself when record fuel prices undermined its popularity.

“Most of the minority [são] pension fund companies in the United States that earn an average of R$6 billion per month. Money from you who put fuel in cars,” Bolsonaro said in one of the criticisms, in June.

“It became ‘Petrobras Futebol Clube’ for its president, directors, counselors and minority shareholders”, he added. On the other hand, the portion of the state-owned company’s profit destined for the Union helped the government to pay for social benefits that were highlighted in its reelection campaign.

In a letter sent to the Petrobras board, Advocacia Garcez argues that the distribution of high dividends “corrupts the social function of the public company”. The collegiate that decided the value is now aligned with the government, formed mostly by public office holders.

“We are facing a clear scenario of an abuse of the right of Petrobras’ controlling power. If this abuse was already configured with the distribution of dividends of this amount, in the post-election scenario and generating obligations for the future management of Petrobras, the situation is aggravated “, he says.

Petrobras claims that its projects are approved because they have “good resilience” and that “there are no investments held back by financial or budgetary constraints”. “The decision to use surplus resources to remunerate shareholders appears to be the most efficient.”