Gasoline increase: drivers queue and gas stations already raise prices

Drivers queue at gas stations in capital cities such as Brasília, Belo Horizonte, Curitiba and São Paulo, as well as in cities in the interior, after Petrobras announced a mega-adjustment of 18.8% in gasoline. On the east side of São Paulo, the queue crossed the block at a post on Avenida São Miguel, in São Miguel Paulista, on Thursday afternoon (10).

There are stations that have already raised the price of fuel soon after the announcement, before Petrobras’ official deadline for the increase in its refineries. This is the case of San Martin, in Itaquera, also on the east side. According to an employee who preferred not to be identified, the post is passing on to consumers the adjustment that has already come from the distributors.

The liter of gasoline rose by R$0.30 and was sold at the site at R$6,699. The liter of diesel rose by R$0.10 and costs R$6,499 (s500) and R$6,599 (s10), according to the worker. In Curitiba (PR), an official also changed the price of a liter of gasoline this Thursday.

When announcing the readjustments, Petrobras stated that the highs will only come into effect at midnight this Friday (11).

In Belo Horizonte (MG), the queues increased in the early evening. Cities in the interior of São Paulo also had a race to fill the tank, especially from the late afternoon of this Thursday. In Ribeirão Preto, whose region is the most traditional in the country in terms of sugarcane production, the liter of gasoline has already risen by at least R$0.60 at some stations, reaching R$6,799. The forecast is that, when the readjustment is consolidated in the establishments, stations will be selling the fuel at more than R$ 7.

Ethanol, a fuel derived from sugarcane, also rose to R$4,199 at gas stations consulted by the sheet. In the metropolitan region of Ribeirão, the price is even higher. In Batatais, white flag stations (not linked to any distributor) sold a liter of gasoline at R$ 7.12 already around 12 pm. In Franca (400 km from São Paulo), the liter of gasoline reached R$ 6.95 this Thursday, or 7.8% more than the R$ 6.45 charged in the early morning. Ethanol reached R$ 4.95.

In Foz do Iguaçu, a city in Paraná located on the Triple Border, drivers cross the Argentine border to save money, and face up to four hours of queue to fill the tank of cars and motorcycles.

In Pernambuco, the price of fuel is close to R$10 in the Fernando de Noronha archipelago. At a gas station in the Pernambuco archipelago, the liter of gasoline was at R$9.79 on Thursday afternoon.

In the capital Recife, there are already stations charging a liter of gasoline above R$7, reaching R$7.15 in some establishments.

On social media, users complained about the immediate readjustments, a few hours after the announcement of Petrobras’ rise.

The expectation among administrators of gas stations in the city is that the escalation of prices will intensify throughout Friday (11) and the weekend.

José Alberto Gouveia, president of Sincopetro, a union that represents stations in São Paulo, says that the increases observed this Thursday are mainly due to the reduction in inventories.

“I have no information on price hikes from distributors today [quinta]. But there were many cancellations of orders that were supposed to have been received and were not because the distributors also had cuts in their orders. It starts at Petrobras, goes through the distributors and arrives at the gas stations,” he said.

According to Gouveia, establishments that have low stocks are under pressure to increase the price now, because as of this Friday (11) they will have to renew the tanks with the new prices announced by Petrobras.

Consumer should report increases, says Procon

The Procon-SP guided consumers to denounce fuel price increases during this Thursday. According to the agency, the early readjustment configures “abusive and speculative practice”.

Pressured by the advance of oil prices with the war between Russia and Ukraine, the 18.8% readjustment in gasoline will make the average price go from R$ 3.25 to R$ 3.86 per liter in refineries. For diesel, the increase is even greater, at 24.9%. The value will rise by almost R$ 1 per liter, from R$ 3.61 to R$ 4.51.

With the increases announced this Thursday, the price of gasoline at Petrobras refineries accumulates a high of 24.5% in 2022. The price of diesel sold by the state-owned company rose 35%.

According to the ANP (Agência Nacional do Petróleo, Gás e Biocombustíveis), gasoline and diesel cost, on average, R$6,577 and R$5,668 per liter, respectively, in the week between February 27 and March 5 at Brazilian gas stations. The maximum price of regular gasoline reached R$ 7,859.

Considering that the gasoline sold by Petrobras represents 73% of the mixture sold at gas stations — the rest is anhydrous ethanol — the readjustment at the refineries will have an impact of R$ 0.44 per liter, raising the national average price to around R$ 7 per liter. first time in history.

The average price of diesel, considering that all other installments remain unchanged, would reach a value around R$ 6.40 per liter.

Gasoline price reaches almost R$ 8 in Bahia

Consumers in Bahia were the first in the country to feel the impacts of the Ukraine war on fuel in their pockets. The state is supplied by the first large privatized refinery in Brazil, the Mataripe Refinery, which readjusted its prices on March 5th to keep up with the rise in oil.