"We are all in a 'trade-off' situation. You leave money with me and I will show you outstanding projects..., a well-composed portfolio of short, medium, and long-term, sustainable things, and the investor decides if he wants to stay with us or if he wants to be with the guaranteed 'cash' of the short term dividend," he said.
Petrobras on Wednesday
posted a better-than-expected 38% surge in fourth-quarter earnings but proposed to trim a $6.9 billion dividend, amid pressure from the government to boost investments.
"Wherever there is an opportunity in Brazilian territory
or even abroad, we will pursue it. And who will decide this is
not an emperor, or just one person, it is the board of
directors, it is a competent executive board, it is an open
dialogue including with investors and people who believe in
Petrobras," the executive said.
Prates also said he doubts whether there is a need for very strict rules regarding dividends payout. "Circumstances change, the conjuncture changes, the projects change, and we are building this relationship together with dialogue with investors", he said, adding that "it is possible to have a dialogue before taking decisions that investors may not like".
Prates, a former senator appointed by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to head the oil giant,
took office in January with expectations he would oversee a strategic shift to more renewable energy projects and renewed investments in refining.
Shortly after his remarks, Lula
criticized the firm's dividend payouts and said Petrobras should have invested more in the country's growth.
Earlier, Prates argued that the company must prepare for an
"unavoidable" energy transition and wants to play a leading role
in it.
"We will maintain our protagonism in oil and gas production
while working to finance and build this new future," Prates
said, adding his goal was to make Petrobras a balanced firm for
it to play a leading role in the energy transition.
Shares in the company were down 0.9% on Thursday,
underperforming Brazil's Bovespa stock index.
(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo, Roberto Samora and Marta
Nogueira; Editing by Steven Grattan and Marguerita Choy)
