CEO of Brazil’s Petrobras says over 20% of workforce has agreed to buyouts

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Some 10,000 employees of Brazil’s state-run Petrobras have signed up for a voluntary buyout program, the company’s chief executive, Roberto Castello Branco, said during a live interview with a newspaper on Wednesday.

That figures comes to about 22% of the company’s more than 45,000 employees, he said. Castello Branco said Petroleo Brasileiro SA , as the company is formally known, plans to have about 30,000 total employees in the long term.

(Reporting by Gram Slattery)