The current president of the Petrobras Board of Directors, Pietro Mendes, was re-elected to the position and will serve a new term for two years. His retention in the post was sealed this Thursday (25) during the annual general meeting of the company’s shareholders.
Pietro Mendes is also national secretary of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels at the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME). He is a trusted name of Minister Alexandre Silveira.
He was removed from the Petrobras Board of Directors for a few days at the beginning of the month. The removal had been ordered on April 11th by the Federal Court of São Paulo, which responded to a popular action promoted by state deputy Leonardo Siqueira (Novo-SP).
The parliamentarian claimed that the appointment of the secretary violated the rules set out in the State Law. However, the Federal Attorney General’s Office (AGU) was successful with an appeal and the decision was reversed on April 16.
In addition to reappointing Pietro Mendes, the general assembly maintained four other members on the Petrobras Board of Directors appointed by the government: the current president of the company, Jean Paul Prates; the special secretary for Government Analysis of the Civil House, Bruno Moretti; the Secretary of Geology, Mining and Mineral Transformation of the MME, Vitor Saback; and lawyer Renato Gallupo.
With the new mandates for these five names, the government was also successful in the election of Rafael Dubeux, deputy executive secretary of the Ministry of Finance. In this way, it preserved the majority composition, electing six of the 11 councilors.
The only new face among the Union representatives on the Petrobras Board of Directors, Rafael Dubeux will occupy the seat vacated by former Minister of Science and Technology Sergio Machado Rezende. His departure from the Board of Directors was already certain, since he was not a candidate.
Like Pietro Mendes, Rezende was removed by a court decision that accepted arguments from deputy Leonardo Lima. Likewise, an appeal from the AGU was accepted and he returned to his position as counselor days later. Even so, the government chose not to launch its re-election bid.
Minority shareholders re-elected investor Juca Abdalla and lawyers Marcelo Gasparino and Francisco Petros. A new face was chosen by the holders of preferred shares: accountant Jerônimo Antunes. He will replace economist Marcelo Mesquita, who could no longer run as he had already served two terms.
Dividend distribution
Before the election, the meeting approved the proposal to distribute R$21.95 billion to shareholders, corresponding to 50% of the value assessed for extraordinary dividends. In March, the Board of Directors, considering the forecast of new investments and the need for detailed analysis, announced the retention of 100% of extraordinary dividends, valued at R$43.9 billion.
The decision caused a sharp drop in Petrobras shares and the issue also became the center of political discussions.
Last Friday (19), the Board of Directors reevaluated the scenario. Taking into account the improvement in Petrobras’ capacity to finance its projects, the 50% transfer was released.
Election
The Petrobras Board of Directors is the company’s highest collegiate body, responsible for making strategic decisions. In total, it is made up of 11 members. Terms of office are two years, with up to two re-elections per director permitted.
Of the 11 seats, one is occupied by a representative of holders of common shares and another by a representative of holders of preferred shares. Furthermore, a name is chosen by Petrobras workers: the current advisor, Rosângela Buzanelli, had already been re-elected by her colleagues and will remain for another two years.
The other eight places are contested. Names are nominated both by private investors and by the government, which represents the Union, the controlling shareholder of Petrobras.
All eight of these seats were held by government appointees until 2020, when a change in the election process favored minority shareholders. The new conditions allowed them to win two of these places. Since then, the government has maintained six seats, which is enough to preserve the majority composition of the Board of Directors.
The list of candidates presented by the government, however, included eight names. The list included lawyer Benjamin Rabello Filho and production engineer Ivanyra Correia, who were not elected. In order to expand its influence on the Board of Directors, the government would need at least one of them to receive support from private shareholders.
