Brazil's Petrobras cuts diesel prices to distributors

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian state-run oil company Petrobras will reduce the price of diesel sold to distributors by an average 0.12 real ($0.0205) per liter starting on Friday, it said in a statement on Thursday.

The reduction comes with crude prices falling in recent weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on a number of countries on April 2.

Changes on the exchange rate and Brent crude oil prices weighed on the decision to update prices, Chief Financial Officer Fernando Melgarejo told Reuters.

"We have a fundamentalist analysis of prices, and within this analysis we understand that the adjustment was appropriate at this moment, mainly due to the movement of the Brent," Melgarejo said.

A lowering of fuel prices in Brazil had been speculated about after the announcement of the tariffs, as Mines and Energy Minister Alexandre Silveira discussed the matter with Petrobras Chief Executive Magda Chambriard.

Petrobras was conservative in its cut, said Eduardo Oliveira de Melo, a managing partner at Raion Consultoria, adding his consultancy firm had measured a potential fuel price reduction of up to 0.30 real.

($1 = 5.8640 reais)

(Reporting by Isabel Teles and Marta Nogueira; Writing by Fabio Teixeira; Editing by Lisa Shumaker, Kirsten Donovan and Ed Osmond)

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