Petrobras chairman resigns from board

Sao Paulo: The chairman of Brazil’s embattled state oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA has resigned after taking a leave of absence in September, the company said in a statement Monday.

Murilo Ferreira, the chief executive officer of Vale SA, the world’s biggest iron ore miner, joined Petrobras’s board earlier this year in an effort to improve corporate governance after the oil producer became the centre of Brazil’s biggest corruption scandal. Ferreira presided over the first Petrobras board that didn’t include any government ministers.

Luiz Nelson Guedes de Carvalho, who has been acting chairman since Ferreira took his leave on September 14, will remain in his position until the next ordinary board meeting, Petrobras said.