Brazil’s Petrobras in talks to freeze fuel prices for 45 days -sources

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Petrobras’ board of directors held discussions Friday over freezing fuel prices for 45 days, according to three sources with knowledge of the matter.

The proposal, presented by board member Francisco Petros, comes just hours after Petrobras announced it was raising fuel prices, sparking outrage among Brazil’s top politicians.

One of the conditions of the temporary price freeze would be for the government to withdraw its nomination of a senior economic official as the company’s new chief executive, as well reversing its newly appointed board members.

The proposal was sent to the chief executive of the state-owned company and to two ministers, as reported earlier by local newspaper Valor Economico.

Aside from a price freeze, the board of directors also discussed creating a working group to look at revamping the company’s pricing policy.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Viga Gaier; Writing by Peter Frontini; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Alistair Bell)