Petrobras president appoints five new directors, three remain undefined

The new president of Petrobras, Jean Paul Prates, began assembling the new Executive Board of the state-owned company with the appointment of five directors this Thursday (2). Among the new names, four are career employees of the company and one worked in the corporate market.

The nominations will still be submitted to the internal procedures of corporate governance and deliberation of the Board of Directors. There are also three more directorates awaiting appointments, in addition to the possibility of creating one dedicated exclusively to the energy transition, an area in which Petrobras intends to invest US$ 4.4 billion (R$ 22.5 billion) in the decarbonization of operations , biorefining and skills for the future.

The Exploration and Production area, considered the most important with an investment of US$ 64 billion (R$ 327 billion) according to the 2023-2027 strategic plan (see in full), Prates appointed mechanical engineer Joelson Falcão Mendes, who worked in the position of executive manager for deep and ultra-deep waters. The related area of ​​Refining and Natural Gas will be managed by chemical engineer William França da Silva, who has worked in the management of some of Petrobras’ refineries in São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Bahia and Rio de Janeiro, in addition to being a director at Transpetro and Transpetro Internacional.

For the Production Development area, the president of the state-owned company appointed mechanical engineer Carlos José do Nascimento Travassos, current executive manager of Surface Systems, Refining, Gas and Energy, responsible for the implementation of large capital investment works.

The Commercialization and Logistics area will be managed by chemical engineer Claudio Romeo Schlosser, who served, among other positions, as vice-president of Petrobras America and executive manager of Refining, Petrochemicals and Fertilizers.

Finally, a graduate of the corporate market, Carlos Augusto Barreto will occupy the Digital Transformation and Innovation department. According to the state-owned company, the technologist has more than 25 years of experience in the field at US banks (including the Federal Reserve, the US central bank) and technology companies.