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Sources: US government asked Petrobras

to raise oil output in March

US-BRAZIL US government officials met with represent- by 2026 as part of its medium-term plan, the
atives of Brazil’s national oil company (NOC) sources said.
Petrobras in March to request that the South As of press time, neither the US government
American country increase crude output in nor Petrobras had officially confirmed that the
response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, meeting took place.
three sources with knowledge of the matter told A spokesperson for the US State Depart-
Reuters earlier this week. ment revealed little in a statement sent to
According to Reuters’ sources, who spoke on Reuters. “We are ... doing everything possi-
condition of anonymity because the talks were ble with our allies and partners to mitigate
private, the meeting took place shortly after the the economic impacts of Russian actions on
US and Brazilian governments began bilateral other economies like Brazil,” she said. “We are
discussions on the situation in Ukraine. Officials working with energy companies to surge their
in Washington sought to consult with Petrobras capacity to supply energy to the market, par-
in an “informal” follow-up to those initial con- ticularly as prices increase.”
tacts, one source explained. Petrobras, meanwhile, said in a statement
During the meeting, the US officials asked viewed by Reuters that it had not met with “rep-
Petrobras to raise production, at least on a short- resentatives of the US State Department.” When
term basis, in order to relieve pressure on global asked for clarification, the NOC declined to say
crude markets. This request did not bear any whether it had had any contact with officials
fruit, as the NOC responded to the request in from another US government agency.
the negative, said the sources. Brazil’s Mines and Energy Minister Bento
Petrobras team members explained this Albuquerque had told Reuters in April that he
stance by saying that the company used busi- met twice with US Energy Secretary Jennifer
ness strategy rather than diplomacy as the main Granholm to discuss his country’s role in sta-
source of guidance for its production targets, the bilising the global crude oil market. He did not
said. They also told US officials that Petrobras reveal many details of those talks, but he had
did not have the logistical wherewithal to boost commented in late March that he expected Bra-
oil output temporarily, even though it aimed zilian oil producers to ramp up production to
to raise yields by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) some extent to take advantage of rising prices.™

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