A new dawn for Petrobras?
The government-controlled oil giant is trying to change strategy - and market perceptions
When Pedro Parente took over as the head of Brazil's scandal-hit oil company Petrobras, he promised a badly needed course correction. Gone, Parente says, are the government shackles that many blame for dragging the company down. The country's new president Michel Temer had given him the freedom to take the company its own way. "We don't have to ask anything of anyone. We can take actions that address the interests of the company," Parente exclaimed at his first press conference in June. Amid a shattering and ongoing corruption probe, Parente was tasked by Temer to turn around the world's most indebted oil company-one of the toughest tasks in the industry. He plans to do so by re-doubling the
Also in this section
5 March 2026
Gas is a central pillar of Colombia’s energy system, but declining production poses a significant challenge, and LNG will be increasingly needed as a stopgap. A recent major offshore gas discovery offers hope, but policy improvements are also required, Camilo Morales, secretary general of Naturgas, the Colombian gas association, tells Petroleum Economist
4 March 2026
The continent’s inventories were already depleted before conflict erupted in the Middle East, causing prices to spike ahead of the crucial summer refilling season
4 March 2026
The US president has repeatedly promised to lower gasoline prices, but this ambition conflicts with his parallel aim to increase drilling and could be upended by his war against Iran
4 March 2026
With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed following US-Israel strikes and Iran’s retaliatory escalation, Fujairah has become the region’s critical pressure release valve—and is now under serious threat






