In yet another day of uncertainty and disagreements, the federal government this Tuesday (5) faced difficulties in finding new candidates in the market for the presidency and the board of directors of Petrobras, which led it to consider postponing the vote on the new composition. , scheduled for Wednesday of next week (13).
In the back-and-forth of invitations, polls and speculations, Palácio do Planalto received a refusal from the former president of the ANP (National Petroleum Agency) Décio Oddone, who had been probed for the presidency of the state-owned company.
On another front, the option for Caio Mário Paes de Andrade, assistant to Minister Paulo Guedes (Economy) gained strength due to the government’s difficulty in finding a name, but it has a strong veto: that of Arthur Lira (PP-AL), president of the Chamber of Deputies.
The succession at Petrobras was the subject of a tense and inconclusive meeting this Tuesday afternoon between President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and the Minister of Mines and Energy, Bento Albuquerque, who has suffered constant wear and tear in this process.
With that, the government started to work with the scenario of postponing the vote on the new composition, removing this item from the agenda of the shareholders’ meeting on the 13th.
If implemented, the postponement would give a survival to the current administration, commanded by General Joaquim Silva e Luna, which would remain until the election of the new representatives in an extraordinary general meeting to be convened later.
The postponement would take place through the removal of this item from the agenda of the April 13 meeting. According to government sources close to the company, this is an alternative that is on the table, given the short time for the appointment of new names to run the company.
The request to postpone has not yet been formalized with the company and would depend on a formal communication from the PGFN (Attorney General of the National Treasury), which represents the Union at meetings of companies in which it is a shareholder.
Despite this alternative, palace advisors say that Bolsonaro wants to give a quick solution to the case. The president has been irritated by the impasse.
The crisis at Petrobras began with Bolsonaro’s decision to change the command of the state-owned company in response to the rise in fuel prices, on March 28. The two names chosen to run the company and its Board of Directors, however —the businessman Adriano Pires and the football top hat Rodolfo Landim, respectively—, fell before taking over, due to the risk of conflict of interest.
The uncertainty caused turmoil in the company, leading to a 0.95% drop in Petrobras shares this Tuesday.
Executives with experience and recognition in the oil and gas sector approached for an eventual nomination are declining the invitation.
They are professionals with a more technical profile and experience in the energy area of ​​directorates of public bodies, ministries and regulatory agencies.
Oddone, one of those who declined the invitation, is an engineer and since 2020 has chaired Enauta, an oil and gas exploration and production company. Thus, according to government officials, he would run into the same compliance obstacles as Adriano Pires.
The government also has against itself the perception that the cost-benefit ratio of taking the positions in charge of the state-owned company is not worth it at this moment, less than nine months from the end of Bolsonaro’s current term.
There are also administrative hurdles. According to sources heard by the report, a new manager needs at least three months to understand Petrobras’ operational structure. As the government is at the end of its term, the deadline is too short to leave any legacy that could be relevant.
The risk of political pressure also bothers, since it is clear to the sector that the new incumbents will face opposition from President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) himself in relation to the fuel price policy.
Given the short time, the government has been advised to look for someone among its staff or within Petrobras’ own staff to fill the vacancies.
In this context, the name of Paes de Andrade, special secretary for Debureaucratization, Management and Digital Government, at the Ministry of Economy, was once again mentioned, who has already been interviewed for the position, according to a government source.
Behind the scenes of the Economy, there is an assessment that, although he has no experience in the oil and gas sector, Paes de Andrade would be a good name for being a trusted assistant to Guedes and also for his positive experience in conducting the digitization of government services. .
The economic team had been uncomfortable with some proposals defended by Adriano Pires to create mechanisms of subsidies and mitigate fluctuations in fuel prices.
The president of the Chamber, in turn, tells interlocutors that he believes that the fact that Paes de Andrade does not have experience will make him unable to solve the problem of fuel prices.
Lira also assesses that Pires had more skills to command the state-owned company and promote the necessary changes to avoid high fuel prices.
After Pires’ refusal, the president of the Chamber publicly defended on Tuesday the revision of the State-Owned Companies Law. In his assessment, the system established by the law is “complicated”.
“I think that Congress needs to look into this. Petrobras, in addition to being an S/A, cannot ignore the fact that it is a state-owned company. It belongs to the government, which is the majority shareholder. The government cannot be blamed for everything she does wrong, without explanation,” Lira said.
According to him, the established compliance rule was made to stop Petrobras. “From there, I think there is a clear need for Congress to debate itself to see the possibility of changing some points of the State-Owned Companies Law, including clearly dealing with the privatization of this company.”
Without naming names, the president of the Chamber also stated that appointing “a general, an admiral, a university professor, perhaps a journalist, a lawyer or a company administrator who has never had contact with the oil and gas area would be the only way to you put it there to maintain the status quo of corporate interest and shield Petrobras so that it remains this being that has no responsibility to Brazil or anyone else”.
Silva e Luna, the company’s current president, is a reserve general. Paes de Andrade has a degree in social communication, with a master’s degree in administration.
Bolsonaro’s allies who also defend a name in the sector for the company want him to participate more closely in the polls, now carried out by the Ministry of Mines and Energy.
Sought, the MME reported that “the government is defining the professionals who meet the profile to occupy the positions of president of Petrobras and that of president of the company’s Board of Directors”.
“When these names are defined, they will be properly informed”, says the ministry.
Concerned about the uncertainty, minority shareholders of Petrobras want the election on the 13th to be postponed.
The voting ballots for the names of the council have already been distributed with both names and, in the evaluation of some funds, the exchange could generate problems or even the judicialization of the assembly, as it could influence the final result.
The request for postponement, however, is not unanimous: there are minority groups that believe it is possible to carry out the vote, claiming that there are other important issues on the agenda, such as the approval of the 2021 financial statements.
For the government, the postponement of the entire assembly is unlikely given the multi-million costs involved for a recall, which would take about 30 days to execute.​
Specialists say that it would be possible, as an alternative, not to postpone the assembly and keep the election with the list of current nominees (removing only the two names that withdrew).
In that case, the new chairman of the board of directors (eg, second on the government’s preference list after Landim) would choose an interim executive chairman until election to the position.
The situation is provided for in the Petrobras statute. “In the event of a vacancy in the position of President, the Chairman of the Board of Directors will appoint the substitute from among the other members of the Executive Board until the election of the new President”, states the bylaws of the oil company.
After the mega-increase in fuel prices in March, General Joaquim Silva e Luna came into Bolsonaro’s crosshairs, worried about the rise in prices and their inflationary effect on the elections.
The issue of fuel is considered one of the most important for Bolsonaro since last year, and it got worse with the war in Ukraine. In second place in polls, he is seeking re-election in October.
The chief executive began to publicly criticize the general’s management at the helm of the company. Government soldiers tried to appease, without success.
Last week, Palácio do Planalto confirmed the resignation of Silva e Luna, once one of Bolsonaro’s favorite generals in the federal administration. After the announcement, he said he felt betrayed by the president.
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