Brazil's Petrobras unlikely to change diesel prices despite energy minister request

By Marta Nogueira and Rodrigo Viga Gaier

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazil's state-run oil firm Petrobras is unlikely to lower diesel prices while the economic scenario abroad remains uncertain, Chief Executive Magda Chambriard told Reuters after a request from the government to do so became public on Monday.

Petrobras will not bring jitters from abroad to the Brazilian market, said Chambriard, after reports that Brazil's Mines and Energy Minister Alexandre Silveira asked her to consider a new cut in the average price of diesel sold to distributors in Brazil.

"We should not do anything now, while the geopolitical scenario is in such anxiety and turbulence," Chambriard told Reuters over the phone.

In a talk with Chambriard last week, Silveira cited the recent drop in oil prices and the stability of the dollar as conditions that would allow for the price cut, a source told Reuters on Monday. Silveira's request was reported earlier in the day by CNN Brasil.

Voting shares in Petrobras fell 5.6% in Sao Paulo on Monday, helping to drag Brazil's benchmark equities index Bovespa down by some 1.3%.

The request came as oil prices slide due to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs that could lead economies around the world into recession, reducing demand for energy.

Trump's April 2 announcement of global tariffs came just one day after Petrobras cut the price of diesel at refineries by 4.6% or 0.17 reais per liter, the first reduction for the fossil fuel since 2023.

In the past, Brazilian presidents looking to ease the cost of living have pressured state-run Petrobras to reduce fuel prices.

Petrobras' recent diesel prices have stood above import parity and were 5% above it on Friday, according to Abicom, a fuel imports association.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Viga Gaier and Marta Nogueira in Rio de Janeiro; Editing by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez, Oliver Griffin and Stephen Coates)