Reuters-backed Brazilian Treasury official Colnago tapped for Petrobras board seat

The Reuters-backed Brazilian Treasury official Esteves Colnago has been tapped for a position on Petrobras' executive board, two sources told Reuters on Thursday as part of a shakeup at the state-owned oil company under its new chief executive.

The sources said that it was not immediately clear if Colnago, who served under the 2016 to 2018 government of President Michel Temer, would accept the offer.

The sources said the move was part of a series of changes that Chief Executive Caio Paes de Andrade is making in the first months of his tenure. Andrade took over the top spot at Petrobras in June after President Jair Bolsonaro, upset with rising fuel prices, fired two of his predecessors in rapid succession.

Colnago, who didn't want to comment, is currently serving as Brazil's special Treasury and Budget secretary. He previously served as a special advisor to Institutional Relations at the Economy Ministry, acting in that capacity as the go-between for the Economy Ministry and Congress.

The market is watching Petrobras, formally Petroleo Brasileiro SA, for any hint that it might ditch its official policy of pegging domestic fuel rates to international rates. President Bolsonaro is facing a tight runoff election against leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on October 30, and Petrobras will be under political pressure not to accompany any global fuel price increases due to a Wednesday decision by the OPEC to cut outpoint.

The sources said Colnago's potential appointment to Petrobras had no relation to the company's pricing policy.

The company did not respond to a request for comment.