The new chief executive of Petróleo Brasileiro SA PBR 6.43 % has vowed to return Brazil’s troubled state oil company to “greatness,” by shedding assets—and outdated ideologies—that no longer serve the nation’s most important company. In a Friday interview with The Wall Street Journal, his first with the foreign press since taking the post last month, former agribusiness executive Pedro Parente pointed to a leaner, more profitable company free of political meddling as the way to restore the tarnished image of Petrobras, as the company is known. “This will be a serious company…with the best management that we can have in this country,” Mr. Parente said. “These are not small dreams that we have for this company. I would not have come here if it was not with a view to work to recover this company to its greatness.” He signaled that his strategy is mostly in line […]