The resumption of the increase in international oil prices led the price of diesel in Brazil to once again lag in relation to the foreign market. According to Abicom (Brazilian Association of Importers), the difference was R$ 0.20 per liter in the early afternoon of this Thursday (17).
On Tuesday (15), with Brent oil, an international price reference negotiated in London, at less than US$ 100 (about R$ 500), the diesel sold by Petrobras became more expensive than abroad, intensifying the pressure on the state-owned company for price cuts.
On Thursday, however, the barrel of Brent exceeded US$ 107 (R$ 535) a barrel, in the face of greater pessimism in the markets regarding the resolution of the war in Ukraine. For fuel importers, the volatility scenario still does not allow a glimpse of a drop in domestic prices.
According to Abicom, the lag in the price of diesel is currently 4%. In the price of gasoline, it is higher, 9%, or R$ 0.40 per liter. The two products had their prices readjusted by Petrobras last Friday (11), in 24.9% and 18.8%, respectively.
Four days after the increases, on Tuesday, the drop in oil reversed the scenario for diesel, which was R$0.27 per liter above import parity, a concept used by Petrobras’ price policy that simulates how much it would cost to import the product from U.S.
In Bahia, supplied by the first Brazilian private refinery, the gap is smaller: 1% for diesel and 3% for gasoline. Operated by the Arab Mubadala fund, the Mataripe Refinery has been following international quotations more closely.
The drop in oil at the beginning of the week led President Jair Bolsonaro to state at an event at the Planalto Palace on Tuesday that “with all certainty” Petrobras would reduce fuel prices.
“We are hearing that in recent days the price of oil abroad has dropped a lot. We expect Petrobras to follow the price drop abroad. It will certainly do that there”, said the president.
Bolsonaro’s ally, the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (DEM), joined the chorus. “The barrel goes up, we increase, the barrel goes down, we don’t go down? It’s important that Petrobras pull back the price and the increase it gave, because the dollar is falling and the barrel is falling”, said Lira.
Petrobras’ top management, however, has said internally that there is no deadline for lowering fuel prices, even with the drop in oil prices, which came to be negotiated at values close to the 2008 record at the worst moment of the crisis.
With the readjustments, the average price of gasoline in the country reached R$ 7.47 last weekend, according to a survey carried out by the fleet management company ValeCard based on electronic transactions at gas stations across the country.
This Friday (18), the ANP (Agência Nacional do Petróleo, Gás e Biocombustíveis) publishes its weekly price survey, already with impacts from the increases, which should bring record prices in the historical series started in 2002.
The latest survey, released last Friday, showed a rise of 1.6% for gasoline and 3.7% for diesel, but still without the impact of the readjustments, since data collection is usually done at the beginning of the week.
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