RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Brazil’s new mines and energy minister Alexandre Silveira said on Monday that state-run oil company Petrobras would play a leading role in expanding the country’s oil refining sector.

During an official event inaugurating his new role, Silveira said that Petrobras would play a leading role, encouraging other groups to join the process.

“It is urgent that we enlarge and expand our refineries, taking them to the country’s regions and modernizing the plants,” he added.

(Reporting by Marta Nogueira and Pedro Fonseca; Editing by Sarah Morland)