Fuel prices: Bolsonaro and Lira want parliamentary investigation launched against Brazil’s Petrobras

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – This time, state-owned Petrobras, one of Latin America’s largest oil companies, has apparently gone too far in its arrogance.

President Jair Bolsonaro said Friday (17), along with the Speaker of the House, Arthur Lira, to propose the formation of a CPI (Parliamentary Investigative Committee) to investigate the president, directors, and administrative and financial boards of Petrobras.

He made the statement after the oil company announced another increase in fuel prices, against the express will of its majority shareholder, the Brazilian state.

“I spoke with Lira a few minutes ago. He’s with the people in charge right now, and our idea is to propose a CPI to investigate the president, the directors, and the administrative and financial boards. We want to know if there is something wrong with their behavior. It is unthinkable to continue raising prices, given the high price of fuel and the excessive profits of Petrobras,” the president said in an interview with 96 FM Radio, Rio Grande do Norte.

Bolsonaro classified the Rio-based company’s announcement of diesel and gasoline price increases as a betrayal. “The profit of Petrobras is something that no one can understand. The company makes six times more profit than the average of oil companies in the world,” he said.

“The CPI is the way to expose all those commanding this irrational process of fuel adjustment in Brazil.”

Earlier today PMs from Centrão, the most powerful voting bloc in the Brazilian Congress, talked about breaking the company’s monopoly to contain prices. The Chamber president accused Petrobras’ management of “corporate terrorism”.

Petrobras turned 31.6% of its revenues into profits in the first quarter of 2022. The Brazilian state-owned company is the second most profitable among the major oil companies analyzed by Poder360.

It is surpassed only by China’s CNOOC, which generated a profit of 37.7% of revenues during the same period.

However, Petrobras has the highest profit in the ranking: US$8.6 billion, or R$44.6 billion, obtained from January to March. It outperforms major oil companies such as Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies, Equinor, and BP.