By Jeffrey T. Lewis


SÃO PAULO--Petróleo Brasileiro SA said Monday it will reduce the price of the natural gas it sells to distributors by 8.1% per cubic meter, starting May 1.

The state-controlled oil company known as Petrobras said its contracts with the distributors permit it to modify the price of natural gas on a quarterly basis, based on the price of crude oil and the currency exchange rate. During the period of February through April, the price of crude oil fell about 8.7% and the Brazilian real strengthened about 1.1%, Petrobras said.

The cost of transportation of natural gas is updated once a year, in May, and will rise 0.2%, according to the oil company.

With the price cut that will take place on May 1, the price of natural gas sold by Petrobras to distributors will have fallen about 19% in a year, the company said.


Write to Jeffrey T. Lewis at jeffrey.lewis@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-17-23 0813ET