Rise in oil prices inflates cost of cooking gas canisters

Because of the rising value of oil in the international market, the price of the cooking gas (13 kg canister) in Brazil has never been so high, declared the president of the Brazilian Association of Gas Resellers, Alexandre Borjaili, to the newspaper O Estado de São Paulo. In less than 40 days, Petrobras announced two readjustments of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG): 5%, on December 4, 2020, and the most recent, 6%, on January 6, 2021.

Borjaili foresees that the canister can cost from R$ 150 to R$ 200 in 2021 - in comparison to the R$ 75 in November 2020. The rise happened mainly after the sale of gas company Liquigás by national oil giant Petrobrás, concluded at the end of last year. “LPG is now controlled by multinationals and they totally abandoned the social principle of the 13 Kg canister”, he said. According to the state company, the increase in demand affected the price of gas 2020 - for cooking, heating and petrochemicals-, which reflected on international prices and, consequently, on Brazil.

To avoid the return to the massive use of firewood in the country - an alternative for a large part of the low-income population, which has no way of keeping up with the rise in the price of cooking gas - the businessman said he’s trying to bring to Brazil a “clean” stove, developed by the United Nations (UN), powered by ethanol.