MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Petrobras' new CEO upholds current pricing policy

The goal is to be profitable while remaining sustainable, Chambriard explained three days after taking over as CEO of Petrobras

The new CEO of Brazil's State-run oil company Petrobras Monday defended during a press conference the company's current pricing policies to preserve domestic market stability, Agência Brasil reported. Magda Chambriard had been on her post three days after a reshuffle ordered by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

“Petrobras has always worked in line with international price trends. Sometimes a little higher, sometimes a little lower. What is highly undesirable is that you bring price instability to Brazilian society every day. Petrobras has always ensured this stability,” Chambriard said.

“Recently, we had a scenario in which the prices of gasoline, diesel, and derivatives in general were extremely high. President Lula, in his election campaign, promised to lower prices. And how has this been done? Now, is it fair to charge the same price for a product that I don't import as for a product on the international market that pays for freight, insurance, import risk, and importer earnings? All of this is present in a great formulation that has made the price of fuel more Brazilian,” she added.

Petrobras' current fuel pricing policy was adopted in May last year and represented the end of the International Parity Price (PPI), which had been in place for more than six years. Since 2016, prices charged domestically were linked to the international market based on the price of a barrel of Brent crude oil, which is calculated in US dollars. This practice led to the distribution of record dividends to the company's shareholders. In the current model, Petrobras does not stop taking the international market into account but incorporates references from the domestic market, it was explained.

Chambriard also pointed out that she was honored to take up the post and recalled the start of her career at the company itself, at the age of 22. She also mentioned her time at the National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP), where she served as director general between 2012 and 2016.

“I joined that company on a day when 187,000 barrels of oil were being produced per day. So I followed and was part of the campaign for 200,000 barrels, 500,000 barrels, a million barrels. While I was at the ANP, although I was already out of the company, I took part in the discovery of the pre-salt,” she noted.

In her view, Petrobras' main challenge is to guarantee the country's energy security while also having to tackle the issue of the energy transition. She recalled the company's commitment to zero carbon emissions by 2050. Hence, the goal is to be profitable while remaining sustainable. The new president said she is convinced that Petrobras will be profitable and that she will work to engage in dialog with both public and private shareholders. “We will respect business logic,” she said several times.