Bolsonaro changes energy minister amid fuel-price row

President Jair Bolsonaro replaced his energy minister on Wednesday after frequently criticizing Petrobras’ fuel price hikes, which are blamed for boosting inflation and undermining his popularity five months before elections.

According to a note in the official gazette, Bento Albuquerque, Bolsonaro’s energy minister since the far-right president took office in 2019, will be replaced by economy ministry adviser Adolfo Sachsida.

The energy ministry said Albuquerque had stepped down for “personal reasons” after a meeting with Bolsonaro, though speculation swirled in the Brazilian media that he had been sacked.

The shuffle comes after Bolsonaro said Thursday that Petrobras’s recent profits amounted to “rape,” and called on Albuquerque and the firm’s chief executive, Jose Mauro Coelho, to stop it from increasing fuel prices.

Albuquerque and the energy ministry however had no direct role in price decisions by Petrobras, whose pricing policy is based on the international oil market.

Disregarding the president, Petrobras went on to hike diesel prices by an additional 8.9 percent Monday.

Bolsonaro has also repeatedly changed the chief executive at Petrobras, replacing Roberto Castello Branco in February 2021, then Joaquim Silva e Luna last April — in each case, after attacking the firm’s price increases.

The company only stoked Bolsonaro’s fury further when it reported a first-quarter net profit of $8.6 billion Thursday, up 38 times from the first quarter of 2021.

According to official estimates, fuel costs in Brazil have risen by more than 33% in the last year, resulting in annual inflation of more than 12%, which is hurting Brazilians’ wallets.

As Bolsonaro campaigns for reelection in October, he is trailing leftist ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-2010) in the polls.