Roberto Castello Branco, a past advocate for privatization of Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras), will become chief executive officer of the Brazilian oil and company.
President-elect Jair Bolsonaro announced the appointment, according to press reports, to be effective when the new administration takes office on Jan. 1. But he made clear that privatization of Petrobras is not planned.
Bolsonaro said partial privatization is possible but called Petrobras “a strategic company.”
Castello Branco served on the Petrobras board in 2015-16 and was director of a mining company in 1999-2014. He now is a professor at Fundacao Getulio Vargas and a friend of incoming Finance Minister Paulo Guedes, who also has called for privatization of the state oil company.
After his appointment, Castello Branco dismissed prospects for privatization of Petrobras, telling a Sao Paulo newspaper, “I do not have a mandate to think about it.”
The current Petrobras chief executive is Ivan de Souza Monteiro.
