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Now, Petrobras also faces an uncertain global economic scenario that has undermined oil prices and Brazil's currency, while oil production is expected to remain stagnant for the next two years as the company works to develop recently discovered deep-water fields off the country's coast.

Petrobras suffered a BRL6.41 billion financial loss in the second quarter, primarily because the real's more than 10% depreciation against the greenback pushed servicing costs on the company's dollar-denominated debt load higher. In the second quarter 2011, a 4% appreciation of the real resulted in a BRL2.9 billion gain for the company.

The weaker real also caused Petrobras to pay more for its fuel imports. Over the past two months, Ms. Foster has made good on her promise that local fuel prices would need to rise to pay for the company's $237 billion investment plan through 2016. Petrobras raised diesel and gasoline prices in June, following that increase with a second hike to diesel prices in mid-July.

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