Getúlio Vargas

Getúlio Vargas, as President of Brazil, championed the 'O Petróleo é Nosso' campaign and signed Law 2,004 on October 3, 1953, establishing Petrobras as a state monopoly. His decision to nationalize the oil industry, rather than allowing foreign majors to develop the country's resources, established a tradition of economic nationalism that would define the company's approach to business for the next seven decades.

Getúlio Dornelles Vargas was a Brazilian lawyer and politician who served as President of Brazil from 1930 to 1945 and again from 1951 until his suicide in 1954. Operating during a period of intense nationalist sentiment and economic protectionism, Vargas recognized the strategic importance of domestic oil production for Brazil's industrialization and national security. His decision to champion the 'O Petróleo é Nosso' (The Oil is Ours) campaign was a pivotal moment in Brazilian history, as it mobilized the public and the military to support the creation of a state-owned oil monopoly, overriding the opposition from liberal economists and foreign oil companies. The signing of Law 2,004 on October 3, 1953, which established Petrobras, was the culmination of this campaign and represented a fundamental shift in Brazil's economic policy, from one of reliance on foreign capital to one of state-led development. Vargas's legacy is the creation of a powerful state-owned enterprise that would become the engine of Brazil's industrialization and the source of the country's vast oil wealth, a legacy that continues to shape the company's strategic direction and its relationship with the federal government today.