Petrobras board approves Coelho as president

In a meeting this Thursday (14), Petrobras’ board of directors approved the appointment of José Mauro Coelho to the presidency of the state-owned company, to replace General Joaquim Silva e Luna, fired by President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) after the mega-increase. in fuel prices in March.

The approval by the collegiate is the last step in the nomination process and the executive will take office this Thursday afternoon, in an internal ceremony without the presence of the press. On Wednesday (13), he had been approved to join the company’s board.

Former Secretary of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels at the MME (Ministry of Mines and Energy), the new president of Petrobras will face the challenge of balancing pressures against the fuel price policy and the company’s governance rules, reinforced in recent years to reduce the risk of political interference.

With the rise in oil prices after the end of the pandemic, the management of Petrobras became the target not only of the opposition, but also of Bolsonaro and allies. The situation worsened with the start of the Ukrainian war, which brought the value of a barrel close to the record set in 2008.

His predecessor was fired after allowing this rise to be passed on to domestic prices, authorizing increases of 24.9% in the price of diesel, 18.8% in the price of gasoline and 16.1% in the price of cooking gas in the second week of March. .

With the transfer of the mega-increases to the pumps, the final prices of the three products reached record values ​​since the ANP (Agência Nacional do Petróleo, Gás e Biocombustíveis) began its weekly survey at gas stations in 2004.

The authorization of the increases on the eve of the approval of a law that allows the reduction of taxes on fuel generated irritation in Bolsonaro, once and for all relations between the Planalto Palace and the command of Petrobras.

Uncomfortable with the way he was fired, Silva e Luna defended the policy of aligning domestic prices with international quotations and said that “there is no room for adventurers” at the state-owned company.

Coelho was the government’s second choice for the position in the midst of a troubled process that involved the refusal of the first choice, Adriano Pires, after questions about conflict of interests, and frustrated consultations with other executives in the sector.

Working in the government’s energy sector for 14 years, he has already defended in interviews the alignment of fuel prices with international quotations as fundamental to guaranteeing the country’s supply, an importer of diesel and gasoline.

At this Wednesday’s meeting, in addition to his name, the shareholders approved the government’s nominee to command the Petrobras board of directors, Márcio Weber, who already occupied a vacancy on the collegiate.

The meeting showed a sample of the difficulties that the two will face: but two months after initiating discussions on the reform of the company’s statute, the MME asked for the topic to be removed from the meeting’s agenda, claiming that it had not had time to consider the matter. .

The reform would help strengthen the company’s governance structure, giving the board of directors more strength to avoid interference in issues such as social responsibility policy and the appointment or dismissal of the Director of Governance.

The ministry argued that the company did not comply with the rite for this type of proposal, but the statement was contested by the director of Governance at the state-owned company, Salvador Dahan, who listed meetings and meetings with ministries to discuss the issue.

Private investors criticized the government’s interference and threatened to complain to the CVM (Securities Commission) for abuse of voting power — with a controlling position, the government only relied on its vote to remove the topic from the agenda in the absence of minority shareholders.

In the note in which it announced the approval of Coelho by the board, Petrobras thanked Silva and Luna for their “leadership, dedication and contribution” in the company’s presidency, in a management guided by the consolidation of governance and compliance mechanisms.

During this period, says the text, Petrobras “consolidated its financial position, becoming a strong and healthy company, so that it could play its social role of investing, generating jobs, paying taxes, returning dividends to shareholders, including the Union, and contributing to the country’s development”.