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Lula's aspirations for Petrobras hemmed in by new rules

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva may soon find that switching the CEO of Petrobras is inadequate to turn the staterun oil business into the engine for task production and advancement it was during his first 20022010 terms.

Lula recently tasked incoming CEO Magda Chambriard with speeding up financial investments in shipyards, fertilizer plants, refineries and gas lines to enhance the Brazilian economy, according to sources familiar with their talks.

In her first public statement since selected as CEO, Chambriard stated in a post on LinkedIn on Monday that she was committed to the continuing growth of our industry.

There are, nevertheless, aspects far beyond her self-discipline that might slow things down, the sources stated.

After a major corruption scandal revealed in 2014 by a probe known as Operation Cars and truck Wash, reformers set up internal and external checks and balances on service decisions at Petrobras.

Those brand-new procedures rather lessen the power of the government, the firm's managing investor, to steer corporate policy as it likes, said Florival Carvalho, former director of Brazilian oil and gas regulatory agency ANP.

New governance mechanisms make it more difficult to authorize projects at Petrobras that are not plainly rewarding, for instance, or to offer fuel at a loss to tamp down inflation-- both typical practices when Lula's Workers Celebration was last in charge.

The existing laws and Petrobras laws in location would make it challenging for a new management to meaningfully change the capital allocation and fuel pricing policies, Goldman Sachs experts informed clients in a note after the CEO swap recently.

It will be very important for investors to keep an eye on if any element of governance will be altered, the analysts included.

Increased public-sector oversight by independent organs may likewise weigh on Chambriard's efforts to accelerate a $102 billion financial investment prepare for the 2024-2028 duration.

For something, she could fulfill resistance from Brazil's. federal audit court (TCU), which has the power to probe. public-sector organization consisting of Petrobras contracts.

The TCU intervened this year when Petrobras attempted to keep. two private-sector fertilizer plants operating in Brazil. Unions. lobbied the federal government to assist keep the lines running, however the. court warned it could activate losses for the company of up to. 487 million reais ($ 95 million) in 8 months.

In basic, the TCU and Petrobras have been at chances,. fighting, for a long period of time, said Jose Augusto Dias de Castro, a. partner at TozziniFreire Advogados, a law firm in Brazil.

One of (Chambriard's) huge challenges will be to deal with. diplomacy with the TCU, he included. It could become a problem if. the TCU chooses to put all agreements under a microscope.

The brand-new CEO's ambitions could also deal with headwinds from. Brazilian environmental firm Ibama, which has independent. licensing authority.

Petrobras has actually been slow to get licenses from Ibama for. exploring its top overseas potential customers along Brazil's northern. coast, in an area called the Equatorial Margin.

One promising basin, Foz de Amazonas, near the mouth of the. Amazon River, has been specifically tricky, with Ibama requiring. research studies on the impact of drilling on Native communities. before choosing whether to provide a license.

Petrobras has actually declined to carry out the studies, however it may. have little option if it wants to proceed with licensing, stated. previous Ibama chief Suely Araujo, now public law planner. at Brazilian advocacy group Environment Observatory.

The last word belongs to the president of Ibama, with no. possibility of attract the environment minister-- or any. minister, not even to the president, said Araujo.

If Lula attempted to press Environment Minister Marina Silva to. defang Ibama, it could harm his standing abroad and risk a. blowup with Silva, a respected ecologist, stated Delcio. Rodrigues, CEO at non-profit Instituto Climainfo.

He is using Marina's international eminence ... as one of. the structures of his foreign policy, Rodrigues said.

(source: Reuters)