Brazil’s energy chief says “absolutely sure” of no fuel shortages

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 11 (Reuters) – Brazilian Mining and Energy Minister Alexandre Silveira said on Friday he was “absolutely sure” Latin America’s biggest economy was not facing any fuel shortages, even as some fuel station groups reported supply disruptions.

Silveira also told reporters that Petrobras (PETR4.SA) was free to set fuel prices. In May, the state-run oil company approved a policy to lower diesel and gasoline prices, ditching a more market-based policy in favor of more flexibility to smooth out volatile international prices.

Such move discouraged imports by third parties, according to market representatives.

In a statement, consultancy StoneX pointed to fuel supply “restrictions” it said have hit some Brazilian states, and blamed Petrobras’ pricing for discouraging imports while noting that domestic refining is insufficient to meet local demand.

Fuel station trade group Fecombustiveis said in a separate statement that distributors face product restrictions, but no shortages have emerged.

Fuel distributors federation Brasilcom also said in a statement there were only “occasional and localized shortages”.

Petrobras is meeting obligations to distributors by delivering all contracted volumes, it said in a statement on Friday, adding that the local market is best served by multiple fuel suppliers.

Asked about the risk of fuel shortages, oil sector regulator ANP said it was not aware of any diesel or other refined product supply crunch.

“Diesel stocks are at satisfactory levels,” according to ANP, adding that imports complement domestic supplies.

Reporting by Rodrigo Viga Gaier and Marta Nogueira; Writing by Carolina Pulice; Editing by David Alire Garcia and Miral Fahmy

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