Find no peace Petrobras, the Brazilian oil giant that has a turnover of 100 billion a year and distributes dividends like no other in the world, to the delight of its shareholders. Shareholders who, however, are increasingly worried by the choices of the government, which with its share of 28,67% is the largest shareholder and therefore appoints the top management. Tuesday 14 May the president Squid, not like a bolt from the blue because the disagreements had existed for a long time, ha torpedoed il CEO Jean Paul Prates, which he himself chose last year with a clear mission: to be less and less generous with dividends, aiming instead to defend national interests and invest in the energy transition, on which Petrobras is far behind given that it still claims to extract oil in protected areas such as the mouth of the Amazon. Precisely to give a "statist" twist, while Prates continued to defend the interests of the market and private investors (25% of Petrobras is in the hands of foreign funds and the company pays tens of billions of euros in dividends), Lula indicated for succession Magda Chambriard, engineer and former president of the National Agency of Oil, Gas and Biofuels under the government of Dilma Rousseff, from the same party as Lula.
Lula fires the head of Petrobras and the stock collapses on the stock market
Lula's objective is to lead Petrobras not only to respond to market needs but to contribute more to the economic development of Brazil and in particular to big floor for the energy transition in which, according to the plans of the government and therefore of the reference shareholder, Petrobras will have to have a central role, investing in renewable energy sources, green hydrogen and biofuels. The market, however, did not take it well at all: in the session on Wednesday 15 May, the day after Lula's coup, the actions Petrobras ordinary shares fell by more than 7% in the late morning, after already in March Bag had failed the government's reluctance to distribute the extra dividend of around 9 billion euros, burning the equivalent of over 10 billion euros in just a few sessions. The executive then had second thoughts and gave the green light, also because it would have benefited from it by collecting the equivalent of 3 billion euros, to be allocated to the state coffers. However, the wound never healed, CEO Prates was left to "broil" until the decision was made to fire him. Economists view this latest change at the top with concern, fearing ever-increasing political interference in the company listed on the stock exchange: "It is a signal that generates uncertainty and drives away foreign investors", summarizes Folha de Sao Paulo. But Lula goes straight: "Petrobras belongs to 200 million Brazilians", she had already said some time ago.
