Petrobras' board of directors will discuss the selection of new directors today.

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Criteria for choosing replacements for the five Petrobras directors who resigned will be discussed late Thursday afternoon at an informal meeting of some members of the oil company's Board of Directors in São Paulo, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter.

The name of a new CEO for Petrobras, however, is not expected to be discussed by the board members this Thursday, as traditionally this choice is made by the President of the Republic, the source added, requesting anonymity.

Not all council members were invited to the informal meeting, according to another source.

It was unclear how many council representatives would attend the meeting.

According to the first source, so far no names have been defined or indicated among the board members to fill the vacant positions on the board.

The resignation of the directors, along with the president of Petrobras, Maria das Graças Foster, was announced by the company to the market on Wednesday and will take effect from Friday, when the Board of Directors is expected to approve new executives, in addition to the CEO.

"Today's exchange of ideas is precisely to define criteria or types of people who will assume the roles of the departing directors, but there are still no names indicated," the source told Reuters.

"Today is not a board meeting, it's a meeting of the board members to exchange ideas about the procedures to be followed on Friday, tomorrow, which is when the board is convened."

As for the appointment of the new president of Petrobras, the source emphasized that "it is a choice made by the President of the Republic himself; the board simply ratifies it."

"It's always been like this at Petrobras," the source emphasized.

The discussion regarding the selection of new directors was included on the agenda for Petrobras' regular meeting, which was already scheduled for Friday.

The second most important item on the agenda for the regular meeting will be a meeting with the members of the oil company's Special Committee, formed to act as an interlocutor for independent investigations into allegations of corruption involving the company.

This will be the first time the board will meet with the group, which consists of Petrobras' new Director of Governance, Risk and Compliance, João Elek Junior, who remains in his position, former Supreme Court Justice Ellen Gracie, and former Chief Compliance Officer of Siemens AG, Andreas Pohlmann.

The expectation is that the first information from the investigations conducted by the law firms Trench, Rossi e Watanabe and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, hired by Petrobras, will be presented.

The two firms were hired to investigate the nature, extent, and impact of the allegations that have plagued the state-owned company.

(By Marta Nogueira)