Murilo Ferreira Quits Petrobras To Focus On Other Priorities

The chairman of Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras steps down from his position to focus on other priorities.

According to the recent news, the CEO and a well renowned person of Vale SA, Murilo Ferreira, has stepped back from his position of Chairman at Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras. The company did not announce publicly until November 30.

The oil and gas companies confirmed the departure of the former chairman as the resignation was approved there and then. However, there has been no particular explanation or reason provided of as to why this decision was taken or why did Mr. Murilo resigned.

As there is no specific explanation from the company’s side, sources are suggesting that he might have left Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras in order to turn his attention towards Vale SA and its current massive crises.

It is also reported that the Brazilian government will sue the oil company for the dam incident that happened in the beginning of November. The fine is valued at a massive $5 billion. The company is held responsible as because of the bursting incident, at least 13 people were killed on the spot and about six are still missing. The company is guilty but the fine had to be imposed by the Brazilian government.

According to a source, “Since September 14, Mr. Ferreira was on leave in order to attend to Vale’s operations. At present, the company is in the middle of an industry downturn, due to depressed commodity prices.” Nelson Carvalho is the man that would be replacing him as the chairman of Petrobras and will be taking all of the responsibilities of chairman until the next board meeting of the company is announced. So far, no date has been fixed.

This is the only reason that seems valid as sources are also telling the Mr. Murilo Ferreira was on leave so that he could handle Vale SA’s operations. Leave from September 14 is a very long time and not managing Petrobras as a chairman seems inappropriate hence the best decision could be resignation only if he really wanted to focus on the former company’s crisis.

Due to this, it is believed that the shares of the company might decline when the markets reopen. As of now, “It is trading down 1.32% at $4.86 during the pre-market hours. On the other hand, Vale stock is trading down 5.88% at $3.36.”

Petrobras will soon be revealing its board meeting date where the company will either appoint Nelson Carvalho as the permanent chairman or will appoint a new chairman.