Petrobras (PETR4): Jean-Paul Pratis was unanimously elected president of the state-owned company by the board of directors. Stocks go down

Petrobras (PETR3;PETR4Its board of directors, in a meeting held today, Thursday (26), announced his appointment Jean Paul Pratis As a member of the board of directors until the next general meeting of shareholders elected him to the post of chairman of the state-owned company, the latter of which he held until April 13, 2023. Prats assumed office in both positions on this date.

The new president remains in office until the meeting of the Ordinary General Assembly (AGO), which will bring it into effect.

This Thursday, shortly before the name was confirmed and after the official announcement, Petrobras shares fell on the stock exchange, despite the rise in oil prices. At 1:25 pm (Brasilia time), ON shares lost 2.50%, at R$29.66, while PN shares fell by 2.12%, at R$26.36. Brits assumes that the temporary leadership of Petrobras is already under pressure from the union, the controlling shareholder, to change the direction of its fuel price policy, but market specialists do not expect a major change in the short term.

Prates’ name was officially nominated by the government to Petrobras on the 12th, and has since been analyzed by the company’s governance departments, which check the senator’s integrity and eligibility to hold the position of CEO and board member.

Under Petrobras rules, Prates must first be approved for board membership. He is then appointed temporary chairman of the company until the general meeting of shareholders, when he can be formally appointed. It should be noted that the meeting needs to be called at least a month in advance.

Plates Today, Wednesday, he submitted his resignation from the Senate. It was also published on Thursday by the Diario do Senado, hours before the state-owned company’s board of directors met.

The state company was until then under the leadership of Henrik Rittershausen, who took over as interim CEO after the departure of Caio Mario Paes de Andrade. Paes de Andrade held the position of secretary in the government of São Paulo.

Who is Jean Paul Prats?

Prats is a lawyer and economist, holds an MA in Energy Planning and Environmental Management (University of Pennsylvania) and an MA in Oil and Gas, Petroleum Economics and Engines from the French Petroleum Institute.

He has over 37 years of experience advising public and private projects in the fields of oil, gas, biofuels and renewable energy in Brazil. Prates is a co-author of The Current Regulatory Framework and proceeds for the energy sector in Brazil and has served as Secretary of State for Energy in Rio Grande do Norte, where he has resided since 2005.

He founded CERNE, Center for Strategies in Energy and Natural Resources, a think tank dedicated to helping governments and companies implement social inclusion strategies and multilateral investments in these sectors. He also served on the advisory board of energy groups in Brazil and chaired the Federation of Companies in the Energy Sector of Rio Grande do Norte (SEERN).

Prats, who was also part of Lula’s transition team, was consulted by the president-elect several times during the campaign to gather information regarding the oil sector.

He has already given some indications of what his management of Petrobras will be like. Prats has expressed his desire to turn Petrobras into a company with a strong presence in offshore wind energy (on the high seas), green hydrogen and biofuels.

In addition, he talked a lot about how he views the pricing of state fuels. At the beginning of the year, Pratiss stated that There will be no direct interference with fuel prices, but he made it clear that the idea would be to stop following the import parity price — or PPI, currently used to reset fuels — to calculate sales quotations for its refined products. “Today you can simulate a diesel engine made in Rotterdam, plus shipping, plus other expenses and apply it to the price. It does not reward those who produce here,” he told reporters on the last day 4.

Prats also spoke about his ideas for increasing the country’s refining capacity, noting that increasing capacity is different from building new refineries. He said it is possible to increase refining capacity using the same existing refinery facilities with new cuts for certain fuels.

Related