The Board of Directors of Petrobras unanimously approved today (26th) the name of Jean Paul Prates as the company’s director until the next general meeting of shareholders and elected him president of the company, with a mandate until April 13th of this year, same period of the other members of the executive board.
Prates, who assumes the interim presidency of Petrobras due to the resignation of his predecessor, Caio Paes de Andrade, nominated by Jair Bolsonaro, was nominated for the position by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and took office as president and board member this Thursday- fair. He should be confirmed in office by the general meeting of shareholders that will meet until the month of April, also approving the election of directors.
According to Petrobras’ press office, the company’s directors were elected by the Board of Directors in April 2021, for a period of two years. The entire board, including the president, ends their term on the same date, which explains why Prates’ term will also end in April, when he should be appointed as president of the company by the shareholders’ meeting. The Board of Directors is responsible for approving the election and renewal of the board of directors.
Training
Jean Paul Terra Prates is 54 years old, is a lawyer, graduated from the State University of Rio de Janeiro, master in economics and management of oil, gas and engines from the French Institute of Petroleum and master in energy policy and environmental management from the University of Pennsylvania.
He was a member of the legal advisory of Petrobras Internacional SA (Braspetro), editor of the magazine Oil & Gas Journal Latinoamericana and executive director of Expetro Consultoria em Recursos Naturais Ltda., the largest national oil consultancy during the 1990s and 2000s, when he coordinated projects for several public and private companies, national and international, union and sectoral entities, and advised governments, regulatory agencies and parliamentarians in all areas of the energy sector.
As Secretary of Energy for Rio Grande do Norte, Prates led the state to energy self-sufficiency and national leadership in wind generation, in addition to consolidating a refinery and gas and biomass thermoelectric plants in that state and building bases for solar energy projects and wind offshore (at sea).
legal milestones
Prates went through Rio Grande do Norte; president of the Parliamentary Front for Natural Resources and Energy and of the Brazil-Arab Countries Parliamentary Group. He is the author of important legal frameworks involving the energy transition and sustainable practices, including the law that regulates carbon capture and storage activities and the offshore energy law, and was rapporteur for the Marco Legal das Ferrovias, the new laws on production of biogas in landfills and the new law on sustainable urban mobility.
Recently, Prates was recognized as one of the three most influential names in the renewable energy sector in Brazil and one of the 50 most important personalities in the world energy sector, by the two main international magazines specialized in energy, the European recharge and the North American Windpower. He was also elected one of the 25 most influential names in the world wind industry by the magazine Windpower.
