New CEO announces that company has broken through barrier of 1 million barrels of oil produced in pre-salt layer in a day

This morning (June 2), Pedro Parente has formally taken office as Petrobras CEO. The qualified engineer said that his priority is the company’s financial recovery, and he stressed three pillars that will underpin his administration: governance to restore credibility; financial responsibility; and risk management.

“The first pillar is the consolidation of a new corporate governance, which is able to guarantee the company’s full recovery and credibility among shareholders, suppliers, the market, the public and legal authorities, and society as a whole,” he explained. “The second pillar is the adoption of financial responsibility in absolutely all the company’s plans and actions,” he said, highlighting that investments and activities must be clearly linked to their capacity to generate a proper financial return. The third pillar is the strengthening of risk management. “Risks include not only strategic and operational ones, but also market, credit and image risks. We need to redouble our attention to operational safety, social and environmental risks.”

During his speech, the CEO announced that on May 8, the company reached a new daily record of 1 million barrels of oil produced in the pre-salt layer, less than 10 years after the first discovery in this region. To achieve total daily production of 1 million barrels, the country took 45 years, the executive noted.

According to Parente, pre-salt exploration ought to be one of the company’s priorities. To enable faster exploration work, he stated that he supports an end to the requirement for Petrobras to take a stake of at least 30% in all pre-salt fields, along the lines of the bill already under discussion in the National Congress. “Unless this requirement is loosened, the consequence will be to delay, to an unpredictable degree, the full exploration of pre-salt’s potential. This obligation removes the company’s freedom of choice, to only participate in exploration and production in the fields that best serve its interests,” he said.

Parente also talked about Petrobras’ commitment to continue to collaborate with investigations under way. “We will continue to contribute in an unrestricted and tireless way with the Lava Jato probe, because as victims we have the biggest interest in completely elucidating all the crimes committed and their restitution. Without any doubt, Petrobras is today one of the main protagonists in the search for truth. Mechanisms such as the special autonomous committee, led with great competence by a former president of the Supreme Federal Court, Ellen Gracie, internal audits, and channels for receiving allegations will have my full support,” he said.

The new CEO stressed the importance of the disposal plan and emphasized that he will pursue an appropriate ratio between the company’s debts and capital. In a message aimed at Petrobras employees, he asked them to remain dedicated and hard working to allow Petrobras to recover: “Through perseverance and serious work, we will manage to bring back this company to the position it deserves: to be a market leader, a dream employer among young people, and a source of pride to all Brazilians.”

The ceremony took place at the company’s headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, and was attended by the minister of mines and energy, Fernando Coelho Filho, the acting governor of Rio de Janeiro, Francisco Dornelles, Petrobras chairman Luiz Nelson Guedes de Carvalho, and Petrobras board members and executives.

Click here to view Pedro Parente’s full speech.