Minister says Petrobras is Brazilianizing fuel prices

“It was time to Brazilianize fuel prices and clearly signal that the Lula government fulfills its social role”, said the minister shortly after meeting with Prates, in Brasília.

Petrobras announced this Tuesday (16) its new commercial strategy for defining diesel, gasoline and gas prices. The initiative was approved by the company’s executive board on Monday (15) and takes effect this Wednesday (17).

The new strategy promises to put an end to the International Parity Price (PPI), the pricing policy that, since 2016, has linked the average fuel prices that Petrobras sells to distributors to product variations in the international market, among other factors. , to protect the company against operational risks in the sector.

According to the oil company, the new pricing policy will have practical effects that will be felt in the coming days. As of this Wednesday, the Petrobras’ 13-kilogram gas cylinder will reach distributors in the country at an average of 21.3% cheaper. The expectation, according to the company’s president, Jean Paul Prates, is that, with this, the average value of the cylinder will fall below R$ 100 for the final consumer. Already diesel and gasoline will reach distributors with an average reduction of R$ 0.44 and R$ 0.40, respectively.

A critic of the PPI, minister Alexandre Silveira said that Petrobras’ new pricing policy will allow the company to fulfill its social function, inducing competitiveness among oil companies, while still being “profitable and attractive to investors”.

“The PPI was an abstraction, a lie and a crime against the Brazilian people, because it imposed a handcuff, a gag, on a policy of internal competitiveness of fuel prices in Brazil, causing, many times, fluctuations (in prices national) were far above what would be possible to contribute to national growth”, criticized the minister.

He added that the government did not interfere in the company’s administrative decision, although it has been working for oil companies to adopt a national price reference. “This is an internal decision by Petrobras and a gesture for Brazil,” he said.

Prates, on the other hand, said that with the “adjustment of the commercial strategy”, Petrobras regains its freedom to set prices according to the domestic context. “We freed ourselves from a single and exclusive factor, which was parity with the international market.”

“We are going to use the advantages that Petrobras has in our favor and in favor of the country, without moving away from the international price reference. When I say reference it is not import parity, but international reference. Which means that when the market outside is heated, with prices of oil and its derivatives consistently higher, this will be reflected in Brazil. Because Brazilianizing prices means taking into account our advantages (using the company’s internal competitiveness) without taking Brazil out of the context internationally,” he added.