Event Summary: A Conversation with Pedro Parente, President and CEO of Petrobras

On November 16, 2016, President and CEO of Petrobras Pedro Parente gave a keynote address at the Wilson Center titled “Petrobras: The Way Forward.” The speech detailed the company’s new fiveyear strategic plan, and the challenges and opportunities facing Brazil’s largest enterprise in today’s tough energy market.

An accomplished executive in both government and the private sector, Pedro Parente returned to public service earlier this year charged with leading the transformation of Brazilian energy giant Petobras into a more efficient and competitive company in a global oil market transformed by low prices. As chief of staff under President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Mr. Parente was instrumental in dealing with Brazil´s energy crisis in 2001. This time around, Parente will follow a strategic plan devised with the Petrobras Executive Board. It includes continuing asset sales to lower indebtedness, developing partnerships, and concentrating activities in Petrobras’ core business of efficient oil and gas production. The plan has already produced positive results, despite the turbulent domestic environment.

Since Mr. Parente’s remarks at the Wilson Center, several other key developments have bolstered his positive view of the company’s future. The appointment of former Petrobras senior executive Décio Oddone as the new director-general of Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency (ANP) and subsequent announcement that the government will open new auctions for private investment to develop the pre-salt suggest that, as Mr. Parente told company employees, “2017 will be the year Petrobras turns around.”