Fuel issue: Brazil will keep diesel purchases from the Russian Federation
Brazil has no intention of abandoning Russian diesel as long as it remains affordable, the republic's ambassador to the Russian Federation, Sergio Rodriguez dos Santos, told Izvestia. In a few years, Russia has become the country's main fuel supplier, displacing the United States, and cheap diesel has become a matter of not only price but also social stability for the Brazilian economy. Washington is increasing pressure to get third countries to abandon Russian energy supplies. A bill is currently being considered in the United States that would impose sanctions on them.
How much diesel does Brazil buy from Russia
In terms of price and quality, Russian fuel is the best option on the global market for Brazilian companies. Therefore, Brazil will buy Russian diesel while the price is favorable for importers, Sergio Rodriguez dos Santos, the republic's ambassador to the Russian Federation, told Izvestia. Diesel, the diplomat stressed, is of strategic importance for the country: Brazil lacks its own processing facilities, and internal logistics is tied to road transportation.
— As long as importers consider the price to be favorable, they will continue to purchase. Stable supplies are necessary for Brazil, our transport system is mainly trucking, and diesel is strategically important here," the ambassador noted.
In a few years, purchases have increased tenfold. If Brazil bought $95 million worth of Russian oil products in 2022, then in 2023 it already bought $5.4 billion. Then, for the first time, Russia topped the list of diesel suppliers to the country. By 2024, Brazil has become the second largest supplier of Russian diesel in the world after Turkey: it imported about 7 million tons per year.
The country's overall appetite for imported fuel is also growing. In 2025, Brazil's total diesel imports reached a record 17.3 million cubic meters, 20% more than a year earlier. At the same time, Russian supplies continue to break records: in February 2026, according to the Center for Price Indices, the country purchased 680 thousand tons of Russian diesel, almost one and a half times more than in the same month a year earlier.
The volumes are impressive, especially considering that Brazil itself is one of the ten largest oil producers in the world. It is impossible to process all the oil inside the country — there is not enough capacity. As a result, the country is forced to import from abroad from 25 to 30% of its diesel consumption.
"Russian diesel is cheaper and meets the technical requirements," Sergio Araujo, executive president of the Brazilian association of fuel importers Abicom, explained to Izvestia.
The price of diesel for Brazil is not only an economic issue, but also a matter of social stability. When fuel prices rise, the country is in a fever: in May 2018, a nationwide strike by truckers paralyzed Brazil for 10 days, caused 10 billion reais in damage and pushed up inflation from 0.4% to 1.26% in a month, taking away more than a percentage point from annual GDP growth. In the spring of 2026, the threat returned: after the price of diesel rose to about 6.80 reais per liter, drivers started talking about a strike again. In this situation, cheap imported fuel for Brazil is a way to keep prices down and avoid a new collapse.
Back in 2021, the United States provided more than 80% of imports, while Brazil did not buy Russian fuel at all. The price changed the balance of power: under Western sanctions, Russia began selling diesel at a discount and sent volumes to Brazil, which Europe refused.
According to the consulting company Wood Mackenzie, in August 2023, the discount to American fuel reached 16%. In 2025, Russian diesel came to Brazilian ports at an average of 3.28 reais per liter — noticeably cheaper than fuel from Petrobras. As a result, by 2024, Russia accounted for 65% of Brazilian diesel imports, while the United States accounted for only 17%.
At the same time, Petrobras itself does not purchase Russian fuel in principle.: The state-owned company has assets in the United States, and deals with sanctioned suppliers threaten it with problems.
How will US pressure affect supplies?
Pressure on third countries has long been a familiar tool for the United States, and Brazil is no exception. In the summer of 2025, Washington imposed 50 percent tariffs on Brazilian goods. One of the reasons was the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro, an ally of Donald Trump.
Trump announced the new duties in writing, and Brazilian leader Lula da Silva criticized his tone as direct pressure on the country.
— This is a letter in the spirit of "either obey or get lost." There is not a word about negotiations," the president said.
In February 2026, the situation changed: the US Supreme Court abolished part of the duties imposed by Trump, recognizing such a step as an excess of authority, and for a significant proportion of Brazilian exports, the rate decreased from 50% to 10%.
Senator Lindsey Graham's bill (listed in Russia as a terrorist and extremist) now poses a threat to Brazil. Sanctioning Russia Act, pending consideration in the Senate. The document threatens 500 percent duties to third countries buying Russian oil. Specific states are not named in the text, but Graham himself lists them directly: China, India and Brazil.
The bill already has more than 80 co-authors, but it is unclear whether it will be adopted. Trump has long held on to sanctions as a bargaining chip. Secretary of State Marco Rubio tied Brazil, Venezuela and Cuba into a single knot, viewing them through the prism of the threat to US national security in Latin America. He considers Cuba and Venezuela to be open enemies, and Brazil to be a state that, through its soft policy, helps these enemies survive and lets the United States' geopolitical rivals into the region.
In Brazil, Washington's pressure is rejected, but purchases of Russian fuel are explained not by politics, but by necessity. The government's leader in the Senate, Jaques Wagner, defended the country's right to buy Russian raw materials.
"No one does what they want, they do what they need to," the senator noted.
If sanctions are imposed, both sides will be hit. In the trade of goods with Brazil, it is the United States that is in the black: the surplus for 2025 amounted to $14.4 billion, and taking into account the services sector, the gap is even wider, the American trade mission estimated. Protective duties will inevitably lead to retaliatory measures from Brazil, and they will bring down this surplus first of all.
Brazil intends to respond to Washington, in fact, for every step it takes.
— If he [Trump] decides to take new measures, that's his problem. We will respond as they are accepted," Lula da Silva said.
The very nature of Brazilian supplies is also becoming a sensitive factor. These are mainly raw materials and components: aircraft parts, metal, agricultural products, oil. A duty of hundreds of percent will raise the costs of American producers who use these raw materials, as well as fuel prices, despite the fact that it is already becoming more expensive in the United States against the background of the situation in Iran. The cost of finished products may increase along the entire chain. So the average American's pocket will be hit by restrictions even without any response from Brazil.
There is also a longer-term effect: the more pressure Washington puts on Brazil, the more willing Brazil is to turn to other partners. Trade flows in such cases are quickly rebuilt, says Larry Carvalho, a Brazilian lawyer on maritime law and foreign trade.
— When the United States imposed duties on China, shipments bound for the United States changed their route and went to the Brazilian market. Now the same mechanism will work in the opposite direction: exporters will start looking for new directions," he explained.
China has already noticeably surpassed the United States in terms of trade with Brazil. In 2025, the South American country's trade turnover with China increased by 8.2% and reached a record $171 billion. This is more than twice as high as with the United States, which remains only Brazil's second partner. For Russia, the Brazilian market plays an important role — it guarantees our oil companies long-term revenues under the European embargo. At the same time, the Beijing—Brasilia—Moscow axis is dealing a powerful blow to the hegemony of the West.
Further cooperation between the three BRICS countries will largely depend on the upcoming elections in Brazil, which are capable of turning the country's course 180 degrees. The right-wing opposition, led by Senator Flavio Bolsonaro (son of ex-President Jair Bolsonaro), is rapidly gaining popularity and is really claiming victory. He is betting on a tough alliance with the United States, which could return the region to the status of Washington's "backyard" and jeopardize non-Western trade chains.
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