The departure of Bento Albuquerque from the Ministry of Mines and Energy weakened the position of José Mauro Coelho at the helm of Petrobras, according to government officials heard by the Sheet.
According to reports, there are two main reasons for the delicate situation: in addition to having lost his political godfather, Coelho aroused the antipathy of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) after announcing a new adjustment in the price of diesel.
In Coelho’s favor, however, the fact that a new change in command of the state-owned company could bring more wear to Petrobras and the government.
Since the beginning of the government, Bolsonaro has already changed the command of the oil company twice. The loss of value in the first exchange, when Roberto Castello Branco left the company in February 2021, reached close to R$73 billion due to the fear of investors – who sold papers, suspicious that the government would change the company’s pricing policy and would directly interfere.
With the fall of General Joaquim Silva e Luna, who was fired by Bolsonaro after a mega-increase in fuel prices, there was a smaller loss of value because the government soon tried to circumvent the crisis by choosing José Mauro Coelho, nominated for the position. at the beginning of April.
To take over the company, he had the support of Albuquerque, whom he helped as secretary of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels at the MME. The portfolio is now under the leadership of Adolfo Sachsida, a graduate of the Ministry of Economy.
Those who follow the state company say that, even if he survives the political turmoil, Coelho will be more exposed when he has to announce a new increase in the price of gasoline – which is expected because the international price of a barrel continues to rise.
The executive came into the crosshairs of the President of the Republic about two weeks ago, when the government learned that the company would raise fuel prices again. Coelho went to Brasília, where he had tough conversations with Bolsonaro and the top government.
According to Bolsonaro’s allies, there is a wing of the government that resists the resignation of Coelho for the sign of instability that this can generate and works to prevent the president from removing him from the presidency of the state-owned company.
Interlocutors in the sector also believe that a possible new change in the command of Petrobras at this moment would be negative, bringing even more insecurity.
In this case, according to Planalto advisors, the concern will fall on the company’s governance, since, to change the president in the coming months, Bolsonaro would have to call an assembly outside the deadline defined by market rules – which would trigger a crisis of confidence. .
THE Sheet, one of them also said that, if the government’s objective is to privatize in an eventual second term, Coelho would be the ideal name. The company’s sale plan, however, should not be implemented in the short term.
The increase in the average price of diesel by 8.87% at Petrobras refineries was announced on Monday (9). The rise was expected by the market, given the escalation of international prices in recent weeks, but that did not stop Bolsonaro’s irritation.
In the government, the fact that the readjustment was announced four days after the disclosure of a profit of R$ 44.5 billion in the first quarter of 2022 is considered an aggravating factor. The result, released on Thursday (5), was the third best in the company’s history.
On the same day, Bolsonaro classified the company’s profit as “rape” and “absurd”. “Petrobras, we are at war. Petrobras, don’t raise the price of fuel anymore. Your profit is rape, it’s absurd. You can’t increase the price of fuel anymore”, he said in his weekly live.
No wonder, the fall of the minister Albuquerque was sealed on Tuesday (10), the same day that the readjustment would start to take effect in the refineries.
The now ex-minister was very close to the president and was one of the few who left the top level without being previously fried by the chief executive.
The departure was published in the Official Gazette “on request” — but, according to the Sheet found, it was really a decision by the president, irritated by the successive increases in fuel prices in the year in which he seeks to be reelected.
Albuquerque was Coelho’s main guarantor at Petrobras. With the change in the ministry, the president of the state-owned company fell to Bolsonaro’s displeasure.
The new holder of the portfolio, Sachsida, took over promising to advance in the company’s privatization studies. In search of greater alignment with this objective, sources in the political wing of the government believe that the new minister may want to appoint someone from his closest circle.
The main name that comes up in conversations with government interlocutors is Caio Paes de Andrade, special secretary for Debureaucratization, Management and Digital Government of the Economy. Already quoted at other times to head the company, he has the sympathy of Bolsonaro and Paulo Guedes.
Coelho is the third to occupy the presidency of Petrobras in the Bolsonaro government, and his appointment was only materialized after the controversy involving the name of Adriano Pires, the first chosen by Albuquerque to succeed Silva and Luna.
Coelho, who formally assumed the presidency of Petrobras on April 14, has so far invested in an intense agenda in Brasília, with weekly meetings, according to reports.
On Tuesday, before the exchange at the MME, he paid a courtesy visit to ministers of the TCU (Union Court of Auditors). After the changes, on Thursday (12), he met separately with Sachsida and with the Chief Minister of the Civil House, Ciro Nogueira.
Amid the assessment of government officials about the president of Petrobras, Bolsonaro himself signaled that he could make new “people changes”, mentioning the company in his weekly broadcast this Thursday.
He stated that the company needs to understand its role and that the way to do this would be through exchanges such as the one he made in command of the MME.
“We are doing what we can. Without interference, obviously. To make Petrobras understand its role. Understand how? Make changes here, as we did here at the MME,” Bolsonaro said.
“We hope to make changes in people, that we can do, that we can seek to reduce, to reduce the price of fuel in Brazil. I make it very clear that it is provided for by law, in the case of Petrobras, that it must its social role in terms of fuel prices”, he continued.
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