Gasoline price hits new record and reaches R$ 8.40 in Maranhão

The price of gasoline renewed a historic record after the transfer of the mega-increase promoted by Petrobras last week. According to the ANP (National Agency for Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels), gasoline and diesel rose 8.73% and 14.4% at gas stations this week.

According to the ANP, the average price of gasoline in the country was R$ 7,267 per liter this week. The previous record was R$ 6.90, already corrected for inflation, verified in November 2021. Diesel cost this week, on average, R$ 6.654 per liter, above the record of R$ 5.49 also in November.

The ANP research detected gasoline at up to R$ 8,399 per liter in the country, in Balsas, in Maranhão. The highest price of diesel was found in Ilhéus, Bahia, where the liter of fuel is found at up to R$7,980.

Two states have gasoline with an average price close to R$8: Piauí (R$7.992 per liter) and Rio Grande do Norte (R$7.921 per liter). Amapá appears with the lowest average price in the country, R$ 6.279 per liter. In São Paulo, the average was R$ 6.867 per liter.

The increases reflect the transfer to the pumps of the readjustments promoted by Petrobras last Friday (11), to adjust domestic prices to the escalation of international oil prices after the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

Petrobras increased the price of gasoline sold by its refineries by 18.8%. Diesel rose 24.9% and cooking gas, 16.1%. The readjustments put great pressure on the president of the state-owned company, Joaquim Silva e Luna, who took office shortly after a political crisis also caused by high prices.

The pressure intensified at the beginning of the week, when a punctual decline in international oil prices caused the diesel sold by the state-owned company to spend a day above import parity, a concept used by Petrobras’ pricing policy that simulates how much it costs to import the products. .

President Jair Bolsonaro even said on Tuesday (15) that, “certainly”, the state-owned company would reduce prices to accompany the drop in oil.

This Friday (18), Petrobras released a statement defending its pricing policy and stating that it still sees great volatility in the market, in a sign that it does not intend to adjust domestic prices at this time.

The government is trying to reduce pressure on prices with a proposed federal tax exemption on products. It also managed to approve changes in the ICMS collection model in Congress, which could contribute to lowering prices.

The states, however, are looking for alternatives to minimize the loss of revenue. One of them, defended by the government of Rio de Janeiro, is to correct the average prices of the last five years for inflation, which will mark the tax in a transition period until 2023, when the new collection system takes effect.

According to the ANP, the 13-kilogram gas cylinder was sold this week, on average, at R$112.54, up 9.9% over the previous week. Before, the highest price verified by the agency’s survey had been R$ 105.62, already adjusted for inflation, in October 2021.

The agency’s research found the most expensive cylinder in the country, in Sinop, Mato Grosso, at R$160.

See how the price of gasoline was in your state (in R$ per liter)