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Gold/Mining/Energy : Strictly: Drilling and oil-field services -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Big Dog who wrote (39065)	3/5/1999 9:13:00 PM
From: Broken_Clock	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

Friday March 5, 7:56 pm Eastern Time FOCUS-Brazil seen selling Petrobras as chief quits By Tracey Ober RIO DE JANEIRO, March 5 (Reuters) - Joel Renno resigned the presidency of Brazil's Petrobras Friday, a move industry sources called a long-expected signal that the state is ready to sell off the mammoth state oil company. Renno, who headed the mammoth company for six years and modernized its operations, said he had finished his job and he would be replaced immediately by Transport Director Admiral Arnaldo Leite Pereira as acting president. ''Today I decided to resign from the company, understanding that my mission was fulfilled. I already talked with (Energy and Mining Minister Rodolfo) Tourinho and I think that there is no need to wait (to leave),'' Renno told reporters. Renno prepared the Rio-based company -- Brazil's largest in terms of assets -- for competition after 46 years of monopoly over Brazil's oil and gas rights. He said that in December he submitted his resignation to then minister Raimundo Brito, who asked him to wait. Speculation has been rife in local media that Renno would be replaced by former Communications Minister Luiz Carlos Mendonca de Barros, who led the massive privatization of the Telebras telecommunications system in July. Petrobras share prices outstripped the Bovespa blue-chip index since rumors about Mendonca surfaced at the end of last month. Analysts said Renno tightly gripped the reins of power, running Petrobras as if it were a branch of the government. His wariness of the private sector meant Petrobras negotiated for years on such cooperative projects as the Bolivia-Brazil gas pipeline. Analysts said that after the government set up an independent regulator, which started to strip Petrobras of its monopoly, the company began to show more concern for shareholder concerns about earnings and investment returns. ''Petrobras has been held back by the current management,'' said a foreign oil company official, who did not want to be named. ''A change would be welcomed. It would probably mean they were looking to sell at least a part of it.'' Government officials have insisted they are not planning a controversial privatization of the company, although there are well-developed plans to reduce the state's stake to 50 percent plus 1 share. Renno spoke to reporters after the markets closed Friday, when Rio's tightly-knit oil media got wind of an exclusive interview he had been planning. Petrobras for years was an impenetrable fortress that was so reluctant to share information that special reporters did nothing but roam the halls at its Rio de Janeiro headquarters. Under Renno's tenure, the company did actively start courting publicity, trimming costs and doing general housecleaning to get in shape for competition from big foreign oil concerns. Recently, Petrobras has been scrambling to forge partnerships to meet deadlines on exploration and production imposed by the new regulator. In Renno's bittersweet swan song meeting with reporters, he announced two new partnership deals worth $50 million to be signed next week. He said Petrobras had signed 12 such deals totaling $170 million last year. He also pointed with pride to the company's achievements during his management with an increase of more than 70 percent in oil production, growth of 44 percent in natural gas production and the expansion of total oil and gas reserves by 70 percent.