00:00As gas prices rise due to the war in the Middle East, the Brazilian government is taking measures to control
00:05prices.
00:06Our correspondent Brian Mayer has more.
00:10In the early 2010s, Brazil was close to achieving national sovereignty in petroleum production.
00:16But after the 2016 coup against Dilma Rousseff, President Michel Temer began privatizing refineries,
00:23and President Bolsonaro privatized Brazil's largest petrol station chain, which is now controlled by private investors.
00:30The closure of the Strait of Hormuz sent consumer prices upwards and reminded Brazilians of what they lost.
00:45Brazil is currently producing over 5 million barrels of petroleum per day,
00:49and Brazil is a nation that, in addition to producing petroleum, it refines it very efficiently.
00:55So it's fundamentally important to have the capacity to control this petroleum production and fully supply the internal market.
01:02It's an important factor in guaranteeing national sovereignty.
01:09This month, the federal police launched a price gouging investigation against Brazil's gas and diesel distributors.
01:15On Monday, President Lula issued a temporary export tax on petroleum products and announced government subsidies to stabilize gas, diesel,
01:23and jet fuel prices.
01:25Lula resumed stalled refinery construction in 2023, and this month, the government announced plans to renationalize the Materipi refinery in
01:33Bahia.
01:35We at Petrobras should be able to guarantee production from the well to the petrol stations.
01:41This is needed so that foreign interventions or economic or social factors related to international geopolitics
01:49don't interfere or have impact on the lives of the Brazilian people.
01:55Although the United Federation of Oil Workers applauds the new measures by the government,
02:00it continues to demand the renationalization of all petroleum sector companies that were privatized after the 2016 coup.
02:08Brian Meir, Telesur Recife.
02:13.
Comments