Rio de Janeiro, February 18, 2016 – Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras hereby responds to Official Letter 49/2016-CVM/SEP/GEA-1, which requests the following clarifications:

Official Letter 49/2016-CVM/SEP/GEA-1

“Dear Officer,

We refer to the news item published in the Empresas (Companies) section of today’s edition of the newspaper Valor Econômico, entitled Venina vai depor nos EUA contra Petrobras (Venina will testify against Petrobras in the USA), which contains the following affirmations:

Justice Jed Rakoff, responsible for the individual suits and mass action against Petrobras in the New York District Court has determined that Venina Velosa da Fonseca, a geologist and ex-Petrobras manager, will testify today to the attorneys in charge of the process in which the company is being sued for losses caused to INVESTORS in the United States.

[…]

Venina has already testified before Justice Sérgio Moro, in charge of the Operation Car Wash investigations, in Curitiba, the Federal Prosecution Office and the Petrobras Congressional Investigation Committee. In her Curitiba testimony, she implicated the country’s president Dilma Rousseff and the former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. In the case of Dilma, Venina stated that she had given a presentation to the Petrobras Board of Directors showing that, in November 2009, investments in the Abreu e Lima refinery were estimated at US$13.4 billion and that its Net Present Value (NPV) was US$3.1 billion negative. In financial language, a negative NPV means a loss. At the time when Venina was giving her presentation, Dilma was Chair of the Petrobras Board and the refinery was part of the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC), coordinated by the then minister in the Lula government.

In the case of Lula, Venina stated that, when she denounced irregularities in communications contracts, in 2008, Costa asked her if she wanted to “bring the entire house down” and pointed at the portrait of Lula on the wall. An Internal Investigation Commission was created to look into Venina’s accusations which heard testimony from a manager responsible for the irregularities – Geovane de Morais – who said that Lula had determined the company’s irregular sponsorships. But this part of the testimony was withdrawn and the Commission’s final report omitted any mention of Lula.

Finally, Venina also denounced irregularities in the negotiations involving Petrobras and the purchase of bunker when she headed the company’s office in Singapore, where she was sent following her communication accusations and her refusal to accept the price increases in Abreu e Lima. In 2014, she traveled to Rio de Janeiro to demonstrate the fuel negotiation irregularities, but the punishments meted out to the negotiators were negligible, such as suspensions for a few weeks, and they continued working for Petrobras.

Given the above, we require that you supply us with a declaration regarding the constitution, functioning and validity of the investigations within the scope of the Internal Investigation Commission mentioned in the news item.”

Clarification

As disclosed on December 15, 2014, Petrobras hereby declares that created Internal Investigation Commissions to analyze the procurement procedures in certain works and services.

The findings described were conducted in accordance with the rules and procedures of the Company and the reports prepared by the Commissions were sent to the competent authorities for appropriate action.

Any facts deemed material regarding this matter will be announced to the market in a timely manner.