Gasoline lag shoots up, but Petrobras will continue without readjustments

The average price of gasoline in Brazilian refineries has reached the biggest lag in relation to international quotations since June, according to fuel importers. Petrobras’ management, however, argues that prices are in line and there is no need for readjustments.

According to Abicom (Brazilian Association of Fuel Importers), the price of gasoline in the country was 16%, or R$ 0.63, below international prices at the opening of the market this Wednesday (26). It is the highest value since June 15th.

For the CBIE (Brazilian Center for Infrastructure), the lag reached 17.3%, or R$ 0.69 per liter, at the close of trading on Tuesday (25). The escalation of the lag, says the CBIE, reflects greater demand for gasoline in the United States, which caused a jump of 6% in the price of fuel.

In the case of diesel, the lags calculated by Abicom and CBIE are 13% (R$0.74 per liter) and 15% (R$0.84 per liter). Although high, they are lower than those recorded last week.

The long period of lags — nearly a month, according to Abicom, and six weeks, for the CBIE — signals to the market that Petrobras’ management has been giving in to government pressure to hold prices until the second round of elections is voted on. , next Sunday (30).

At a meeting of the board of directors this Wednesday, the state-owned company’s management argued that the decline in oil prices in recent days has aligned domestic prices with the international market, eliminating the need for adjustments.

In line with President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), the council did not question the assessment. Currently, only two members hold positions that differ from the government: Francisco Petros, who represents minority shareholders, and Rosângela Buzaneli, who represents the company’s employees.

The other nine members are closer to the government, including the other three representatives of minority shareholders, who are linked to banker Juca Abdalla, the state’s largest individual shareholder.

Petrobras last changed the price of gasoline in early September, with a 7% cut. The price of diesel was last changed on the 19th of that month, with a 5.8% cut.

At the end of September, oil prices rose again, with Brent reaching US$ 98 (R$ 521) per barrel on October 6th. Then, they retreated to US$ 88 (R$ 468) per barrel, but rose again, closing this Wednesday’s trading session at US$ 95.69 (R$ 509) per barrel.

During this period, the Mataripe Refinery, the largest private producer of fuels in the country, has already made two increases and a cut in its sales prices for gasoline and diesel. The increases were made on October 8 and 15, and the cut last Saturday (22).

Petrobras, however, is under pressure from the government not to generate negative news during the second round campaign, after helping in the first round by announcing almost weekly cuts in the prices of several fuels – it even announced changes in products that had no disclosure before the election.

With the end of the refinery cuts and without the impact of federal and state tax cuts approved by Congress at the end of June, prices rose again at gas stations. Gasoline has already had two consecutive rises, and diesel, one.

Petrobras says decision on prices is technical

In a statement, Petrobras said that it “reaffirms the alignment of prices with the market” and that “there is no single reference and is perceived in the same way by all agents, whether they are refiners or importers”.

“For demonstration, it is enough to observe that two renowned information agencies, Argus and Platts, publish price references for Brazil with significant differences between them”, he argues.

The company says that quotes are monitored daily and that the decision to update prices is entirely technical. “Due to competition issues, we cannot anticipate decisions on maintenance or price adjustments.”