RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – The chief financial officer of Petroleo Brasileiro SA and three other senior officials decided to leave the state-controlled representative after he opposed the plans of the company’s new chief, a person close to the operators.
Topics of disagreement between the current ruling and the incoming Chief Executive, retired General Joaquim Silva e Luna include his plans for Petrobras’ fuel price policy, the person.
Petrobras, as the Rio de Janeiro – based company is known, announced on Wednesday that its four most important department heads will be retiring following the departure of CEO Roberto Castello Branco.
The shake-up follows Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s firing on Castello Branco in February after a crackdown on fuel prices.
Luna is the latest in a series of active-duty men and former Bolsonaro has been surrounded by armies since he took office.
The executives are head of investor relations Andrea Almeida, head of sales and logistics who is in charge of pricing policy André Chiarini, head of research and production Carlos Alberto Pereira de Oliveira, and head of development and production executive Rudimar Lorenzatto . They have all told the board of directors that they will retire, even if they remain in office until April 12, when a new executive rule should be agreed at a board meeting.
Incoming Chief Luna told Reuters in an interview Tuesday that he intends to keep the management team when he takes over in April, even though he knew there were at least two officers expect to leave.
Petrobras redecoration leader Anelise Lara and chief compliance officer Marcelo Zenkner left the company earlier this year, for reasons that included fears that the government would suspend the company.
Bolsonaro is just the latest Brazilian leader to intervene in Petrobras, which has a significant redecoration monopoly controlling domestic fuel prices.
Sacello Castello Branco after fuel prices walked more than 30% within a month or two sending jitters through financial markets. Fuel prices are a sensitive topic for investors after Petrobras lost $ 40 billion between 2011 and 2014 as the government, which controls most of the company’s voting shares, subsidized your local pump prices.
Luna told Reuters on Tuesday that he would try to keep Petrobras free from inappropriate political interference.
Reporting by Sabrina Valle; additional narration by Gabriel Stargardter; Edited by Jane Wardell and Leslie Adler