The Brazilian state oil company Petrobras $PETR3 (+0,48 %)
$PETR4 (+1,8 %) is unlikely to cut diesel prices as long as the economic scenario abroad remains uncertain, CEO Magda Chambriard told Reuters after a government request to do so was made public on Monday.
Petrobras will not transfer the unrest abroad to the Brazilian market, Chambriard said, following reports that Brazil's Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, had asked it to consider lowering the average price of diesel sold to dealers in Brazil again.
"We shouldn't do anything now while the geopolitical scenario is so unsettled and turbulent," Chambriard told Reuters by phone.
In a conversation with Chambriard last week, Silveira cited the recent drop in oil prices and the stability of the dollar as conditions that would allow a price cut, a source told Reuters on Monday. CNN Brasil had reported on Silveira's request earlier in the day.
The voting shares of Petrobras $PETR3 (+0,48 %) voting shares fell 5.6% in Sao Paulo on Monday, contributing to a drop of about 1.3% in Brazil's benchmark Bovespa stock index.
The move came as oil prices slid on US President Donald Trump's tariffs, which could push economies around the world into recession and reduce demand for energy.
Trump's announcement of global tariffs on April 2 came just a 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.