Brazil government announces dismissal of Petrobras chief

Brazil’s government announced the dismissal Tuesday of Jean Paul Prates as president of Petrobras amid tensions over the payment of dividends to shareholders of the state oil company.

Prates, a former state senator and an ally of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, “has been dismissed,” a presidential spokesman said.

Prates, a lawyer and economist, was appointed in January last year by the board of directors of Petrobras early in the new government of leftist Lula.

He was previously a senator in the Rio Grande do Norte state and a member of Lula’s Workers’ Party.

Lula described Prates as a specialist in the energy sector when nominating him for the job, with 30 years experience in the oil, natural gas, biofuels and renewable energy sectors.

He has been facing criticism after Petrobras decided not to pay extraordinary dividends to investors in March, a move some analysts and opponents viewed as government intervention.

Petrobras confirmed in a statement Tuesday it had received a request for the board to meet on the early termination of Prates’ mandate.

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