Petrobras CEO stands by company’s pricing policy

One day after Petrobras announced massive Q1 2022 profits and faced criticism from President Jair Bolsonaro, the state-owned company’s CEO José Mauro Ferreira Coelho said on Friday that the company will not deviate from market pricing practices.

During his first press conference since taking office last month, Mr. Coelho said that Petrobras does not transfer the volatility of international market prices to its own fuel prices immediately, but that it is “clear that at some point readjustments must be made to maintain the company’s health.”

Regarding Mr. Bolsonaro’s criticism of the company’s profits — the largest for a first quarter for any Brazilian publicly-traded company — Mr. Coelho said that concern about higher fuel prices is “legitimate” and of “all leaders,” and pointed out that Petrobras is not insensitive to society’s needs. 

In this regard, Mr. Coelho gave the example of the state-owned firm’s social program to help low-income families have access to cooking gas.

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