Monforte Quits Petrobras Board

Jose Guimarães Monforte quit his position on the board of directors of Petroleo Brasileiro SA on Friday, two days after he abstained from voting to approve the company's audited financial statements, the state-run oil company said on Friday.

Petrobras, as the company is commonly known, gave no reason for the resignation, in a note announcing the resignation sent to Brazil's securities regulator CVM.

Monforte was not immediately available for comment after normal Brazilian business hours on Friday.

The board on Wednesday voted 7 to 3 to approve audited financial statements that have been delayed since November after a corruption scandal raised doubts about the true value of Petrobras assets.

In the results, Petrobras announced a 21.6 billion real ($7.32 billion) 2014 loss, the largest in the company's history, and wrote down about $17 billion of assets. Of the write-down, about $2 billion was the result of corruption.

Monforte is one of three non-government members on the Petrobras board. The two other members voted against approval of the accounts, Petrobras said in a separate statement on Friday.

Had he not resigned, Monforte, who represents non-government holders of the company's preferred stock, would have seen his position on the board end Wednesday, April 29 when minority shareholders elect a new representative to the board.

Monforte had not been nominated to serve another term.

(Reporting by Jeb Blount; Editing by David Gregorio)