SERGIO MACHADO of TRANSPETRO, THE R $ 8.3 BILLION MAN

JOSE SERGIO DE OLIVEIRA MACHADO of TRANSPETRO

Listening to the classical music on his ipod, Machado used to work 14-16 hours daily in his office. Jose Sergio de Oliveira Machado, President of  Transpetro was passionate about two things; his work and music. He had an eclectic taste in music, ranging from classical to Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra the hinterland. The sound of his preferred music reaching his ears made him work more efficiently.

The president of Petrobras carrier used to monitor five 32-inch flat screens in his office, in real time, the flow of gas pipelines and 3.6 million barrels of oil in the company’s pipeline, the construction of the ship Celso Furtado, and the position of the vessels of the company worldwide. 

Among his responsibilities, Machado used to run the Program for Modernization and Expansion of the Fleet (Promef). It is a program of R $ 8.3 billion budget that aims to order 49 new ships to be built in Brazil. 

Sergio Machado believed in the philosophy that the oil could never be a curse but a gift for transformation. No country is sovereign without its own merchant fleet: 80% of world trade and 95% of the country’s is done by ships. Brazil spends annually $ 16 billion (R $ 28.1 billion) - Petrobras alone spends $ 2 billion (US $ 3.5 billion).

Transpetro made studies on the bottlenecks to make the fragile marine industry in Brazil one of the  most competitive ones in the world. The beginning was difficult.

The biggest challenge for Sergio Machade was to create a sustainable industry. He went to Korea, Japan, and what he saw was too huge and overwhelming.  For Machado, ships in Brazil by Promef, offered great strategic advantages in spite of being 3 % more expensive for it offered a great economic benefit