Brazil's state-owned oil giant Petrobras will expand in wind and solar power this year, the company's chief executive Jean-Paul Prates told Reuters this week.

Prates said in an interview with the news outlet that the company aims to build a portfolio of 2 GW of shares in wind and solar projects. "The market will see that the transition is going to be done in a determined and responsible way and will recognize that," Prates said. He said the acquisition would boost Petrobras' share price.

Petrobras' CEO was quoted as saying that the Brazilian state-owned company's management also has solid ambitions in the offshore wind sector and that the company is looking forward to finalizing the regulatory framework for this segment of the alternative energy industry. Prates said: "We will effectively rule this market alone. This is our big bet, "Prates told Reuters.

Petrobras plans to invest $3.7 billion to decarbonize its operations by 2027. The company also plans to spend $5.2 billion to expand into wind and solar power. However, some observers fear the decision is politically rather than economically motivated, which could backfire. "My concern is that Petrobras will make investments based on political returns rather than economic returns," Adriano Peres, director of consultancy CBIE, told Reuters. However, the amount of investment allocated to wind and solar pales in comparison to what Petrobras wants to spend on its core business. In November, the company announced a five-year budget of $102 billion through 2028, of which 72 percent would be spent on oil and gas exploration and production. Editor/Xu Shengpeng