José Sergio Gabrielli, former CEO of Brazil’s oil-giant Petrobras said on Tuesday (May 20) at the Senate that the 2006 purchase of the refinery Pasadena, in Texas, was a good deal at the time. 

He argues that the enterprise “faced bad moments but later turned into good business again.” He was the first to testify at the Senate’s Congressional Committee of Investigation (“CPI”), an official probe opened to investigate irregularities in the state-run company. 

Gabrielli stated that the acquisition was part of a strategy drawn up by the company. “[Pasadena] was extremely well located, and its price was very attractive. The interest in it was strategic and [the deal] was suitable to the reality of Brazil and the oil in the US,” he added. 

The bad moments, Gabrielli said, were experienced during a global economic crisis and also a crisis in the oil market, brought about by the discovery of shale gas in American territory. According to the executive, the situation made another turn in 2013, and now the refinery is a profitable unit, chiefly due to the existence of light and cheap oil in Texas. 

“This company should not be viewed as one managed poorly, or one facing a crisis. This is propaganda from the opposition. It’s a political fight,” he said. 

After declaring that President Dilma Rousseff should take responsibility for the purchase of Pasadena, as she headed the state-controlled company’s Board of Directors, the former chief executive changed his mind. Gabrielli told the CPI that the president should not be held accountable for the acquisition, because all board’s decisions are made jointly. 

“I do not hold the president accountable for the purchase of Pasadena. It’s the responsibility of the Board of Directors,” he affirmed. 

Gabrielli was the chief executive officer of Petrobras from 2005 to 2011. In April 2014, at a hearing at the Chamber of Deputies, he admitted that not all details of the proposal were known by all members of the board, whose chairwoman at the time was Dilma Rousseff, now president of the country. 

The Senate’s CPI further investigates whether Dutch company SBM Offshore bribed Petrobras employees to sign contracts between the two companies, as well as allegedly low security standards in the oil giant’s offshore platforms. 

The next person to be summoned by the CPI is former International Director Nestor Cerveró. His testimony will be heard on May 22. Graça Foster, the company’s current CEO, testifies on May 27.