The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is considering extending for another 60 days the 12% tax on crude oil exports. The levy is currently upheld by a resolution of Camex, the federal foreign trade chamber, which expires in early September, and the chamber's executive committee (Gecex) meets this Thursday (27) to decide on the matter. The information was reported by Folha de S.Paulo, which obtained a letter sent this week by the Finance Ministry's executive secretary, Rogério Ceron, to the Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services (MDIC). In the document, Ceron points to the technical viability of keeping the rate at this level for 60 more days.
The tax was created in March through a provisional measure, a type of executive decree in Brazil that takes effect immediately but expires unless Congress converts it into law. The goal was to use the exceptional revenue to fund a diesel subsidy and prevent fuel prices from surging as oil rose during the war in Iran. The measure lapsed on July 9. To keep the tax in force, the government issued Gecex Resolution No. 938, valid for 60 days.
Finance Ministry argues for caution
The economic team has already signaled its position. In a technical note dated August 13, the Finance Ministry's Secretariat for Economic Reforms said it sees no grounds to remove or reduce the rate given the continued fluctuation of oil prices, according to Poder360. The document, signed by secretary Régis Dudena, cites uncertainty over the full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Oman.
"The interim review indicates that the geopolitical risk that motivated Gecex Resolution No. 938 of 2026 has not dissipated," the technical note says.
In the government's assessment, the tax discourages crude exports and helps secure supply for domestic refineries, according to Poder360.
Oil companies go to court
Oil companies have filed suit in the Federal Court of the Federal District to strike down the resolution. In a writ of mandamus filed by Abep, an association of oil and gas exploration and production companies, the mechanism adopted by the government is called a "crude artifice" to circumvent the lapse of the provisional measure. For the president of IBP, the Brazilian institute representing the oil, gas and biofuels industry, Roberto Ardenghy, imposing the tax "was already complicated through a provisional measure." "Using a Camex resolution is even more complicated from a legal standpoint," he told Folha.
Gecex decides this Thursday whether to keep, remove or extend the tax. The outlets differ on the exact expiry of the current resolution: Folha reports it lapses on September 8, while Poder360 records September 9 as the closing date. Abep's writ of mandamus remains pending before the Federal Court in Brasília.