- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) board member Roberto Castello Branco, who occupies one of the seven seats reserved for representatives of the Brazilian government on the company's 10-person board, said today that government interference must end if the company wants to meet production targets.
- In unusually frank comments, especially from a government appointed board member, Costello Branco said, “The excess of state intervention in the oil industry, and particularly in Petrobras, has been disastrous. It caused billions of dollars of losses."
- He also cited the enormous windfall that shale oil and gas has generated in the U.S., attributing it to market incentives and good institutions, contrasted with the Brazilian government’s creation of local-content requirements, fuel subsidies that helped the auto industry, and onerous rules for development in Brazil's pre-salt areas.