Petrobras Board Approves More Exploration
The board of Brazil's state-run oil company, Petrobras, approved the exploration of new oil and gas fields in February, Planning Minister Miriam Belchior said on Friday, countering criticism by some board members that they were not previously informed of a 15 billion reais ($6.8 billion) oil-rights deal. Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as the company is formally known, on Tuesday was awarded the rights to explore four fields off Brazil's southeast coast believed to contain an estimated 5 billion to 9 billion barrels of oil. In return, it will pay the government 15 billion reais through 2018, with 2 billion reais going to the Treasury's coffers this year. The cash will help the government with its fiscal goals amid a weakening economy.
Petrobas Board Member Complains of Inept Management
The uproar in Brazil over state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA's purchase of a refinery in Pasadena, Texas, is just "a drop in the ocean" of problems afflicting the company, a board member said on Tuesday. Concerns it paid too much for the refinery pale in comparison to the problems with the way the company has been managed since a 2010 capital increase, said Mauro Cunha, who represents minority shareholders on the board of the Rio de Janeiro-based company. Petrobras, as the company is known, has been struggling with management mistakes since 2010, when the government pressured it to raise as much as 120 billion reais ($58.3 billion) from the sale of new stock to investors, analysts say.
