Reporting by Gabriel Araujo, Reuters

SAO PAULO
EnergiesNet.com 08 05 2022

 Brazilian state-run oil company Petrobras (PETR4.SA) said on Thursday it will reduce refinery gate diesel prices by 3.5% starting Friday, the first price cut for the fuel in more than a year.

Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PETR4.SA), as the company is formally known, said in a statement on its website that diesel prices will drop to 5.41 reais ($1.03) per liter from the current 5.61 reais.

The company said the move was in line with its fuel pricing policy, which pegs local prices to international rates including oil prices and foreign exchange.

“International benchmark prices have stabilized at a lower level for diesel,” Petrobras said, repeating the communication it took when announcing two consecutive gasoline price cuts last month. read more

The latest move represents the first cut in diesel prices by the oil giant since May 2021 – since then, they had more than doubled – and takes the fuel to its lowest level since mid-June.

Petrobras has been facing intense pressure from President Jair Bolsonaro and federal lawmakers to bring down prices amid soaring inflation and ahead of a general election in October.

Brazil’s truckers, who paralyzed the country with a strike in 2018, under Bolsonaro’s predecessor Michel Temer, are a key support group for the right-wing leader.

($1 = 5.2442 reais)

Reporting by Gabriel Araujo, Editing by Isabel Woodford and Marla Dickerson

reuters.com 08 04 2022