ByCharles Kennedy– Apr 08, 2025, 3:00 AM CDT
Brazil’s Petrobras has no intention of cutting diesel prices despite a request by the government to that effect, the company’s chief executive told Reuters this week.
Magda Chambriard cited the current international trade situation, which she described as uncertain, saying, “We should not do anything now, while the geopolitical scenario is in such anxiety and turbulence.”
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The executive was referring, of course, to the tariff war that President Trump is waging on U.S. trade partners as a means of fixing the country’s deficits with many of them. Some have started retaliating, most notably China, which has fueled worry about a prolonged period of instability on the global trade scene.
Chambriard’s comments came in response to energy minister Alexandre Silveira’s suggestion that the state energy major cuts diesel prices amid depressed crude oil and the stable U.S. dollar. Interestingly, Petrobras had just cut the price of diesel at its refineries by 4.6% a day before President Trump announced his global tariff package.
The Brazilian state energy major said last year it planned to spend $111 billion in the five years between 2025 and 2029, with $77 billion of this total earmarked for oil and gas exploration and production activities. The company has been making an effort to boost oil and gas production as the country’s government seeks to make the most of its hydrocarbon resources.
The new spending figure is $10 billion higher than an earlier version of the investment plan, where exploration and production spending was set at $73 billion. That earlier plan, in turn, was an upward revision on an even earlier version of the 2025-2029 budget that stood at $102 billion.
Spending for 2025 specifically, however, was revised down in October. Initially pegged at $21 billion, the company’s spending plan for the year now stands at $17 billion, which Petrobras said was a more realistic figure in line with its financial capacity.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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