It has already been nicknamed the "Dilma of oil". Same style as the Brazilian President, a difficult and firm character, a managerial profile, a hard worker, a maniacal perfectionist. Maria das Graças Silva Foster is the first woman to assume the presidency of Petrobrás, the Brazilian energy giant.
Between the two most powerful women in Brazil there has been a relationship of friendship as well as political affinity for many years. In fact, Foster is a member of the PT, the President's Workers' Party, and in the last elections she also supported Dilma's campaign with a donation of around 10 euros. Last year you were also among the eligible candidates to take on a dicastery, but then nothing came of it. Since 2007, when she became director of the gas and energy sector, so has her husband Colin Vaughan Foster started doing business with Petrobrás. According to the newspaper Folha de S. Paul, up to 2010, the electronic components company stipulated 42 supply contracts with Petrobrás, 20 of which without a tender.
The oil company maintains that these were small purchases, less than 4 euros, for which no tenders were required and above all that they were not linked to the wife's area of implementation.
If Foster is the creature, Dilma is its creator. At the time of the announcement of the succession to the presidency of the largest state-owned company in the country, the group's ordinary shares recorded an increase of 3,6%. On 9 February, the "mulher de ferro" will officially take the place of José Sergio Gabrielli, president since 2005.
"He is a great technician and will give continuity” to the work done so far, said Economy Minister Guido Mantega. On the other hand, Foster has been a company executive for over 30 years. In 1978 he entered it as an intern, today he is preparing to sit in the highest chair. She has a degree in chemical engineering, she has a master's degree in nuclear engineering and an MBA.
Yet she comes from a far from easy childhood: originally from the state of Minas Gerais, in the 50s she moved with her family to Morro do Adeus, one of the hundreds of favelas in Rio de Janeiro. At 8, she was forced to collect cardboard, cans and plastic bottles, which she resold in order to buy school supplies.
She has come a long way and now there are many expectations of her, starting with a more technical and less political management than her predecessor. The biggest challenge that awaits him is the exploitation of pré-sal, the vast oil fields that lie several kilometers deep, under a thick layer of salt, off the coast of Brazil. The prediction is that 60% of the 170 billion euros that the company intends to invest by 2015 will be destined for this project.
But it will also have to resolve the thorny issue concerning material supplies. Last December, Dilma suspended the tender for the purchase of 21 probes for exploratory drilling in the pré-sal. A 30 billion euro deal. The president wants the probes to be built in Brazil, a way to stimulate national industry, to the detriment of free competition.
Foster's plans also include the hiring of 14 workers over the next three years. Yet what is scarce today in Brazil is the skilled workforce to meet the demands of the market.
