Rio de Janeiro: The CEO of Brazil's troubled state-controlled oil company Petrobras, Pedro Parente, resigned Friday in the wake of a devastating truckers' strike over high fuel prices.
The company, a pillar of the Brazilian economy, said Parente "tendered his resignation as president of the company this morning. Nomination of an interim CEO will be examined... during the day today."
Parente quit after President Michel Temer bowed to demands from truckers for cheaper fuel, guaranteeing them discounted diesel for a period of 60 days.
This eroded the autonomy granted to Petrobras in late 2016 to set its own prices -- a key demand of investors, but a policy that saw costs for motorists rise sharply, prompting widespread anger.
In the aftermath of the strike, which lasted nine days and shut down gas stations and food deliveries across Brazil, Temer hinted that he might restore government price setting. He then backtracked, insisting that Petrobras' autonomy would remain in place.
Petrobras was also put under pressure from Brazil's oil workers, who demanded Parente's resignation in a strike launched Wednesday.
Although that strike was called off Thursday after being declared illegal by a court, oil workers' unions threatened to mount an indefinite stoppage later this month if their demands were not met.
Petrobras shares plummeted on the Sao Paulo stock exchange shortly after the announcement of Parente's exit. Preferential shares dropped 16.23 percent and ordinary shares 15.91 percent.
Trading had been briefly suspended earlier.
Parente headed Petrobras from July 2016 and was tasked with restoring credibility and financial health to the huge company after it was embroiled in Brazil's biggest ever corruption scandal, known as the "Car Wash" investigation.
Politicians and Brazilian executives had colluded for years with Petrobras' leadership to fleece the oil major through sweetheart contracts and kickbacks. The scandal has ensnared everyone from Temer, who faces two criminal charges, to ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is now serving a 12-year prison sentence.
In a letter to Temer published Friday, Parente said he left Petrobras "with a restored reputation" -- but that his "remaining in the presidency of Petrobras is no longer positive."
Parente defended Petrobras' pricing policy, which was partly intended to remove the company from political influence, saying that price hikes reflected "the global economy and its effects in the country."
However, Simao Zanardi -- a director at Brazil's biggest oil union federation, the FUP -- said Parente's exit was "a victory."
"He was much more an employee of the markets than he was of Petrobras," Zanardi said.
Andre Perfeito, at the Spinelli financial consultancy, said Parente jumped what looks like an increasingly troubled ship.
"Parente noted the high social tensions in Brazil, that politicians are calling for his resignation, and also that much of what was promised to the truck drivers will not be possible to deliver," Perfeito said.
"Getting ahead of this, he said, 'OK, I'd rather not be part of this.'"