SÃ O PAULO—Brazilian acting President Michel Temer plans to ask Pedro Parente, a former chief executive officer of Bunge Brasil, to head state-run oil company Petró leo Brasileiro SA, a spokeswoman in the office of Mr. Temer's chief of staff said Thursday.

The invitation is likely to be made late Thursday in a meeting between Mr. Temer and Mr. Parente, the spokeswoman said. Brazilian news media have reported recently that Mr. Parente is reluctant to accept the job at Petrobras, as the oil company is known, for personal reasons.

Mr. Temer, who stepped in for President Dilma Rousseff last week after Brazil's Senate voted to hold an impeachment trial for her, has already announced most of the members of his new cabinet and is replacing the heads of some state-run companies.

Mr. Parente is currently chairman of stock-market operator BM&FBovespa SA. A spokesman for the company declined to comment, as did Petrobras. Mr. Parente was the chief executive of the Brazilian unit of White Plains, N.Y.-based Bunge Ltd., one of Brazil's top grain exporters, from 2010 to 2014.

Mr. Parente would be taking the helm of Petrobras as it grapples with the continued fallout from a massive corruption scandal, low oil prices, belligerent unions, and the biggest debt pile in the global oil industry.

He would bring a range of government experience to the job, having served as deputy finance minister and chief of staff to former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, among other positions.

Mr. Parente would replace Aldemir Bendine, who during his 15-month tenure at Petrobras won praise for his efforts to help Petrobras begin to recover from an epic bid-rigging-and-bribery ring that prosecutors said had looted the company for at least a decade and was also marked by the company's biggest-ever write downs.

Petrobras is slashing investment spending and has worked to sell off numerous assets. After a slow start in 2015, the company's $15 billion divestment plan has recently shown signs of life. Earlier this month, Petrobras sold parts of its assets in Chile and Argentina for a combined $1.4 billion, and entered into exclusive talks with Canada's Brookfield Asset Management, Inc. to sell its gas pipeline unit Nova Transportadora do Sudeste.

But the company stills face the global oil industry's biggest debt load. Petrobras's total debt in the first quarter was $125 billion.

Petrobras's preferred shares were down 4.5% at 1:15 local time (12:31 p.m. EDT), while Brazil's benchmark stock index, the Ibovespa, was down 1%.

Luciana Magalhaes contributed to this article.

Write to Rogerio Jelmayer at rogerio.jelmayer@wsj.com and Will Connors at william.connors@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 19, 2016 13:15 ET (17:15 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.