Brazilian oil company Petrobras has appointed a new CEO after Pedro Parente resigned from the position on Friday.
Petrobras has appointed Ivan de Souza Monteiro, its Chief Financial Officer, to Petrobras’ Board of Directors and to the position as CEO of the company.
Parente resigned following widespread protests by truckers in Brazil objecting to Petrobras fuel price setting policy – linked to daily changes in international markets – and rising diesel prices.
To quell the protests the Brazilian government late in May announced a reduction in the price of road diesel of R$0.46 per liter, which was to be achieved “by reducing the tax burden and by the subvention to be paid by the Federal Government.”
According to the May announcement, the initial reduction will be maintained for 60 days and after this period the diesel price adjustments will become monthly.
Petrobras at the time said it would not subsidize the price of diesel and would not incur in losses, “since it will be reimbursed by the Federal Government, in a modality still to be defined.”
In a statement announcing his resignation, Pedro Parente said the truck drivers’ strike and “its serious consequences for the life of the country triggered an intense and sometimes emotional debate about the origins of this crisis and put the Petrobras price policy under intense questioning.”
He said that movements in oil and exchange rates had raised the prices of derivatives, magnified the tax distortions in the sector and led the government to seek alternatives to the solution of the strike, defined by the subsidy concession to the diesel consumer.
Parente said that further discussions would be needed and it was clear that his stay at the helm of the company was not contributing to the “to the construction of the alternatives that the government is facing.”
–
Source: Offshoreenergytoday.com
