Government appoints former director of Aneel linked to Centrão to Petrobras board – 03/08/2023 – Market

The criticized list of the MME (Ministry of Mines and Energy) for the renewal of Petrobras’ board of directors was changed for the second time by the government, with the inclusion of the former director of Aneel (National Electric Energy Agency) Efrain Pereira da Cruz.

He replaces Carlos Eduardo Turchetto Santos, president of CMAA (Companhia Mineira de Açúcar e Álcool), a nomination that could be questioned by internal bodies due to a conflict of interest, since the sugar and alcohol sector competes with Petrobras in the fuel market.

Cruz is named as linked to senators Davi Alcolumbre (União-AP) and Marcos Rogério (PL-RO), today on leave. In 2022, he reported a controversial lawsuit about the emergency thermal of Âmbar, a company owned by the same owners of JBS, which ended up being questioned by the TCU (Tribunal de Contas da União).

His appointment tries to relieve pressure from the PSD and União Brasil bloc for government positions. Member of the PSD, the Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, has made an effort to fulfill this mission, despite protests from members and allies of the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).

Its initial list came under the radar of unions and government allies, for allegedly clashing with the program proposed by Lula’s campaign, which preached a Petrobras with more investments and a return to segments abandoned in previous administrations.

A member of the transition team for the energy area, the general coordinator of the FUP (Federação Único dos Petroleiros), Deyvid Bacelar, even stated that the first names were “linked to Bolsonarism, the financial market and in favor of privatizations”.

The nominee to chair the council, Pietro Mendes, for example, was secretary of the MME during the management of Rear Admiral Bento Albuquerque, today at the center of the jewelry scandal received as a gift by former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and seized by the Revenue Federal.

In the first alteration of the list, the government withdrew the name of Wagner Victer, former secretary of government for the Garotinho family, by legislative consultant Bruno Moretti. Both are close to the president of Petrobras, Jean Paul Prates, but Moretti has a history more closely aligned with the PT.

Cruz’s nomination is yet another defeat for the oil workers, who collaborated in Lula’s campaign and are trying to get the name of Guilherme Estrella, former director of the state-owned company appointed as one of those responsible for the discovery of the pre-salt layer, on the Petrobras board.