Prices surged in March as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine upended global crude flows, with international benchmark Brent reaching $139.13 a barrel, the highest since 2008. Prices cooled rapidly in the second half as central banks hiked interest rates and fanned worries of recession. 

Brent crude on Friday, the last trading day of the year, settled at $85.91 a barrel, up nearly 3 percent to $2.45 per barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude settled at $80.26 a barrel, up $1.86 or 2.4 percent. 

Brent gained about 10 percent for the year, after jumping 50 percent in 2021. US crude rose nearly 7 percent in 2022, following last year’s gain of 55 percent. Both benchmarks fell sharply in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic slashed fuel demand. 

Brazil’s Lula decrees extension for tax exemption on fuels 

Brazil’s newly sworn-in President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed a decree on Sunday extending for 60 days an exemption for fuels from federal taxes, a measure passed by his predecessor aimed at lowering their cost. 

The decree was among the first batch of decisions taken by Lula hours after his inauguration as president, succeeding far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, and officially establishing his cabinet of 37 ministers. 

The exemption from federal taxes on fuel represents a revenue waiver of 52.9 billion reais per year, and Economy Minister Fernando Haddad had said that it would not be extended, creating a division in the new cabinet. 

Petrobras CEO says he will change the company’s fuel price policy 

The incoming chief executive of Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras said on Friday he planned to tweak the country’s fuel price policy, but said investors need not worry. 

Prates told journalists he will change the firm’s pricing policy, which pegs fuel to global oil prices, but emphasized this does not mean prices will be completely unlinked to the international market. 

“Petrobras’ pricing policy will be changed, but not necessarily to traumatize investors,” he said. “It will be changed because the country’s policy will be changed.” 

Prates, a prominent voice on energy policy within Lula’s leftist Workers Party, was already seen as a strong candidate for the Petrobras job after being appointed to the transition team’s group for mines and energy. He is expected to shift the company away from its focus on deep-water drilling toward renewables. 

After Prates takes over the firm, which he said should happen in mid-January, he will present company plans in detail to Petrobras’ board of directors and to Brazilians in general. 

“I see Petrobras as a company that needs to look to the future and invest in the energy transition to meet the needs of the country, the planet, and society, in addition to the long-term interests of its shareholders,” Prates said.

Chevron to load Venezuelan oil for exports 

US oil producer Chevron Corp. has sent an oil tanker to Venezuela to load the first cargo of crude destined for the US in nearly four years, according to a person familiar with the matter and shipping data, with the vessel approaching the South American country’s waters on Friday. 

A second tanker that will bring a cargo of diluents to a Chevron joint venture with state oil firm PDVSA to help process the nation’s heavy crude is due to arrive early next month, the person said. 

The cargoes are the first under the US Treasury Department’s November license allowing the US oil major to expand its operations in the South American country. The license will reopen oil flows shut by US sanctions for nearly four years.