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Petrobras (PBR) CEO Steps Down Amid Fuel Price Criticism

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Brazil’s state-owned oil major Petrobras’ (PBR - Free Report) incumbent Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) quit his position in the company. Jose Mauro Coelho stepped down after facing the mounting political pressure from the top lawmakers in Brazil and President Jair Bolsonaro after Petrobras hiked fuel prices in the country last week, augmenting concerns regarding inflation for the government that is seeking re-election later this year.

Coelho, who was appointed the CEO by the government in early April, was ousted by the President on May 25 and his successor — Paes de Andrade — was chosen as the incoming top executive. Coelho, however, continued in the office as Andrade could only take over as the CEO after being elected to PBR's board of directors.

Jose Mauro Coelho had succeeded Roberto Castello Branco and Joaquim Silva e Luna, both fired as a consequence of a difference in opinion with President Bolsonaro regarding Petrobras’ pricing policies.

In a filing to Brazil’s security authority, PBR mentioned that Chief Exploration and Production Officer Fernando Borges would act as the interim chief executive until a new CEO is elected and takes over.

As a result of this, Borges has now become the company’s fourth chief executive since Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro came to power in 2019.

Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. or Petrobras S.A. is the largest integrated energy firm in Brazil and one of the largest in Latin America. PBR’s activities include the exploration, exploitation and production of oil from reservoir wells, shale and other rocks as well as refining, processing, trading and transportation.

Petrobras currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Some other similar-ranked stocks from the energy space that warrant a look include Murphy USA (MUSA - Free Report) , Enerplus (ERF - Free Report) and Crescent Point Energy (CPG - Free Report) . You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Murphy USA’s 2022 earnings per share (EPS) has been revised upward by about 44.8% over the past 60 days from $12.11 to $17.54.

MUSA beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in all the trailing four quarters, the average being 49.1%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Enerplus’ 2022 earnings has been revised 31.8% upward over the past 60 days.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ERF’s 2022 earnings is projected at $340 per share, up about 250.5% from the projected year-ago earnings of 97 cents.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Crescent’s 2022 EPS has been revised upward by about 101.3% over the past 60 days from $1.56 to $3.14.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CPG’s 2022 earnings is projected at $3.14 per share, up by 336.1% from the projected year-ago earnings of 72 cents.

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