Petrobras board approves 1-real diesel subsidy paid by Brasília as Brent stays above $100
Petrobras said Saturday, September 19, 2026, that its board approved a 30-day diesel subsidy of 1.00 real ($0.19) a liter, paid by the federal government and stacked on 1.12 reais already in force.
Petrobras will collect an extra 1.00 real ($0.19) a liter from Brasília for road diesel and keep charging distributors the same price. The company said Saturday that its board had approved joining that federal subsidy, a 30-day program that can run another 30 days and stacks on 1.12 reais already in force, or 2.12 reais while both apply. US-listed shares last traded Friday at $20.80, down 0.67%.
Earlier this week the company raised its posted diesel price by 1 real a liter and granted a matching discount, Reuters reported, so the price to distributors is unchanged. Petrobras, the same account said, benefits from the subsidy. The federal program pays enrolled producers and importers 1 real a liter of road diesel A when they pass that amount through as a discount. Petrobras’s midweek notice follows that design. The company had already started using it before the board’s formal adhesion.
Abicom’s 3.89-real gap
Brent last traded Friday at $103.87 a barrel, up 11% over the past month and 71% this year. That rally is why Brasília is writing diesel checks.
On Wednesday, September 16, Reuters reported, citing Abicom, the fuel importers’ association, that Petrobras diesel sat 3.89 reais ($0.79) a liter below import parity, the cost of bringing fuel in from abroad, as of Tuesday. Reuters described the gap as at record levels and said independent importers were delaying purchases. About one-quarter of Brazil’s diesel consumption depends on those cargoes.
The new payment is 1.00 real against that 3.89-real gap, covering about a quarter of the distortion. It makes Petrobras whole on the extra slice while the net price independent importers compete against stays where it was. Private barrels remain expensive against Petrobras’s net price, and Petrobras collects the federal money. The same Wednesday session carried Petrobras’s price-and-discount notice. The ADRs fell 3.95% that day. The board voted after that session.
PBR fell to $20.91 the day of the price notice
The 6.6 billion-real fuel envelope
On Wednesday, September 9, Reuters reported that the government allocated an additional 6.6 billion reais ($1.3 billion) for fuel subsidies, part of fuel-relief spending it put at about 40 billion reais ($7.8 billion) from March through the end of September, after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed the executive order that day. That envelope is for producers and importers as a class.
The company has already been cashing the older program. Cumulative receipts under diesel, gasoline, and LPG subventions had reached about 9.5 billion reais by mid-September. Petrobras sold 763,000 barrels a day of diesel in Brazil in 2025, a full-year domestic figure that is a proxy for volumes that could qualify, not this month’s eligible liters of road diesel A. BTG Pactual estimated the extra 1-real slice would add about $800 million a month of incremental revenue for Petrobras while it remains in force.
The standing shareholder-remuneration policy, approved in July 2023, still calls for distributing 45% of free cash flow when gross debt is at or below the strategic-plan maximum, subject to the policy’s other conditions.
Petrobras shares plunged 22% on Monday, February 22, 2021, wiping out 71 billion reais ($13 billion) of market value, Reuters reported, after President Jair Bolsonaro attacked the company’s pricing and replaced its chief executive. The vote disclosed Saturday formalizes a subsidy the company had already started to use. Dissent, if any, has not been reported.
Petrobras inside Brazil equity funds
As of Friday’s holdings, common and preferred Petrobras lines are a $1.22 billion position inside EWZ’s $8.58 billion book, which carries etf.net’s published grade of A (preferred PETR4 at 7.4%, common PETR3 at 6.9%). They are a $485 million position in the Latin America 40 fund ILF, graded B (preferred ADRs 6.4%, common ADRs 6.0%), and $62 million in the global energy fund IXC, graded B.
Petrobras is 14.3% of EWZ and 12.4% of ILF
- Preferred
- Common
- EWZPreferred 7.4%; Common 6.9%
- ILFPreferred 6.4%; Common 6.0%
- IXCPreferred 1.1%; Common 1.0%
The ADRs are up 86% this year on a total-return basis, a move that rode the same crude rally now behind the subsidy. The 1-real check leaves Abicom’s gap intact at the net price distributors pay. Independent cargoes stay uncompetitive next to Petrobras, and Brasília stays on the hook for as long as the 30-day clock, which can be extended once, keeps running.
Frequently asked
Does the subsidy make diesel cheaper for distributors?
No: Petrobras raised its posted price by the same 1 real and granted a matching discount, so the price to distributors is unchanged.
Who pays?
The federal government, which pays enrolled producers and importers 1 real a liter of road diesel A when they pass it through as a discount.
Why is Brasília writing diesel checks now?
Brent is above $100 a barrel, up 71% this year, and Petrobras diesel sits 3.89 reais a liter below import parity.
What does it mean for independent importers?
Their cargoes stay uncompetitive against Petrobras's net price, and some have been delaying purchases even though imports cover about a quarter of Brazil's diesel consumption.