Chambriard was inaugurated as CEO of Brazil’s state-owned oil company and member of the board of directors this Friday
24/05/2024
Magda Chambriard — Foto: Tânia Rêgo/Agência Brasil
Petrobras announced this Friday (24) that its board of directors has approved the appointment of Magda Chambriard as a board member and has elected her as the new CEO of the company.
Ms. Chambriard assumed both positions this Friday and joined the board immediately, without the need to convene a shareholders’ meeting, the state-owned company said.
The new CEO of Petrobras is an engineer who has built her career within the company. She served as the director-general of the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) from 2012 to 2016.
The executive takes over the position vacated by Jean Paul Prates, who was dismissed by President Lula on May 14 after a series of disagreements regarding the management of the company.
Newly appointed CEO committed to investments in refineries, gas, and fertilizers
05/16/2024
Magda Chambriard — Foto: Ana Paula Paiva/Valor
Appointed as the new CEO of Petrobras, Magda Chambriard had at least two key meetings this week, according to government sources, before starting her term at the lead of the state-owned company in alignment with her two direct bosses in the federal government. On Tuesday (14), before Jean Paul Prates’ dismissal was announced, she met with President Lula. On Wednesday (15), the conversation was with Minister of Mines and Energy Alexandre Silveira.
The distancing of Mr. Prates from the president and the minister is cited as one of the factors that contributed to the ousting of the executive from the helm of the country’s largest state-owned company. Other reasons that caused clashes with the government leadership were addressed in the conversations to avoid new friction after the change in command.
In the meeting, President Lula highlighted which of the company’s projects he would like to see thriving, such as increasing investments in refineries, gas, and fertilizers, the resumption of the naval industry, and exploration studies in the new Equatorial Margin offshore frontier.
This was their second meeting recently. The first one took place about a month ago, as Valor found. The president met Ms. Chambriard when she was a managing director at the National Petroleum Agency (ANP), during the Rousseff administration. The name of the new CEO, who engaged in the current administration’s transition team, was endorsed by former President Dilma Rousseff, as well as president of the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) Aloizio Mercadante, Chief of Staff Rui Costa, government leader in the Senate Jaques Wagner, and former Petrobras CEO José Sergio Gabrielli.
Mr. Lula usually listens to Messrs. Costa and Wagner about Petrobras, given their political background in the Camaçari petrochemical complex, in Bahia, in the 1980s.
Among the reasons behind President Lula’s dissatisfaction with Mr. Prates, in addition to the payment of dividends, is Petrobras’s 2024-2028 investment plan. The then CEO prioritized energy transition projects, with $5.2 billion for wind and solar energy.
According to sources at the Planalto Palace, President Lula was especially bothered by the amount of funds allocated to offshore wind farms, with three of the 10 plants expected to be installed in Rio Grande do Norte, Mr. Prates’s electoral stronghold—he was a senator between 2019 and 2023, before taking over Petrobras.
One of President Lula’s requests to Ms. Chambriard was the resumption of halted works in refineries, projects that were dear to the president in his previous terms, especially the Abreu e Lima works, in Ipojuca (Pernambuco).
In January of this year, Mr. Lula visited Pernambuco to announce the resumption of construction works in the refinery. The Abreu e Lima works were the targets of the anti-corruption task force Car Wash, which President Lula criticized in his speech in January, saying that “some judges and prosecutors in this country, subordinate to the United States Department of Justice, never accepted that Brazil had a company like Petrobras.”
Regarding the resumption of the shipping industry, Messrs. Lula and Mercadante are in alignment so that BNDES and Petrobras could work together. About three weeks ago, Mr. Mercadante acknowledged past mistakes in this area but added that investments from the development bank for the shipping industry are expected to increase to R$5 billion this year, with resources coming from the Merchant Marine Fund, which is 75% managed by the bank.
The meeting with Mr. Silveira, the first after Ms. Chambriard was formally appointed, served to review strategic points of the oil giant’s investment plan.
Optimistic about the appointment of the new CEO, the minister reinforced the need to accelerate priority actions to boost economic growth. Topics such as the expansion of refining, fertilizer, and petrochemical plants, as well as the Brazilian naval industry, were discussed at the two-hour meeting.
/i.s3.glbimg.com/v1/AUTH_37554604729d4b2f9f3eb9ad8a691345/internal_photos/bs/2024/q/X/4cBV4BTCAuDnd75uIwUA/971580-13082015-dsc7807.jpg)
/i.s3.glbimg.com/v1/AUTH_37554604729d4b2f9f3eb9ad8a691345/internal_photos/bs/2024/y/B/IPjDHqQOWIyT00pS91Dg/magda-chambriard-ana-paula-paiva-valor.png)