Challenge: one of Maria das Gracas Foster's biggest challenges will be building Petrobras's own gas output following energy nationalisations in Bolivia last year
Petrobras names new gas head
Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras today named the head of its BR Distribuidora fuel arm, Maria das Gracas Foster, as the new head of its gas business, replacing Ildo Sauer.
Former Petrobras chief executive Jose Eduardo Dutra will return to take the poster vacated by Foster.
Dutra left the top job at Petrobras after two years to run for a Senate seat in 2006, which he did not win.
The appointments were approved during a meeting of the board of directors on today.
Foster, an engineer who rose through the Petrobras ranks, is considered a confidant of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's chief of staff, Dilma Rousseff.
Foster's main challenge will be to accelerate Petrobras's own gas production as a way to reduce its dependency on imports from Bolivia, which nationalised its gas industry last year, Reuters reported.
Petrobras has budgeted $18.2 billion dollars for the four years through 2012 to develop its gas production and distribution.