Senator Jose Eduardo Dutra replaces Francisco Gros after five members of the Petrobras administrative council met to elect Mr Dutra as company president. Analysts believe the President’s decision signals that Petrobras may focus more on the government’s economic goals than on profit.

The Enron collapse and the California energy crisis has claimed another victimn - this time El Paso Corp executive vice president Ralph Eads III, who resigned in recent weeks to “pursue other opportunities”.

Mr. Eads’s departure comes as the Houston-based company faces a raft of allegations that it manipulated the California energy market, made improper trades and engaged in questionable accounting to inflate earnings. El Paso has denied the allegations.

Once the heir-apparent to chairman and chief executive William Wise, Mr Eads' helped build El Paso’s energy trading business, however his star quickly faded after the Enron collapse.