Ex-Bunge CEO to lead Petrobras

OREANDA-NEWS. May 20, 2016. Brazil's interim president Michel Temer today named a new chief executive of state-controlled Petrobras, putting his pro-business mark on a company that is struggling to shake off massive debt and a damaging corruption scandal.

Pedro Parente, former chief executive of agribusiness giant Bunge and energy minister in 2002, replaces Aldemir Bendine, a former state banker who replaced Maria das Gracas Foster in February 2015 with a mandate to lift the company out of a financial and political crisis.

Temer took office on 12 May after president Dilma Rousseff was forced to step down for up to six months to face an impeachment trial tied to accusations that she maneuvered to conceal the state of the economy ahead of her December 2014 re-election.