Pedro Parente Resigns as President of Petrobras

06/01/2018 - 12h34

Petrobras President, Pedro Parente, resigned on Friday (the 1st) in a meeting with Brazilian President Michel Temer. Parente had been the head of the company since July of 2016.

Parente has been under mounting criticism for his insistence on maintaining a pricing policy for fuel that was implemented under his management, which has led to successive increases and culminated in the truckers' strike.

	Denis Balibouse/Reuters
	Former Petrobras President Pedro Parente

When he took over at Petrobras, Parente said that he had received guarantees from Temer that Petrobras would be free to practice market prices and wouldn't suffer from political interference. In recent weeks, however, his pricing policy has been at the center of debate and controversy, with criticism coming even from the government's allied base. In an attempt to alleviate the pressure from the strike, Petrobras went as far as to reduce the price of diesel fuel at its refineries.

Petrobras has announced that an interim president would be chosen by the Company's Board of Directors yet on Friday. It also said that there would be no other changes in the executive directorate.

Translated by LLOYD HARDER

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