Brazil Appeals Court Keeps Block on 12% Crude Export Tax

Overview

• The Second Regional Federal Court, in a decision signed late Thursday by Judge Carmen Silvia Lima de Arruda, left in place a preliminary order that suspends the new 12% levy on crude exports.
• The tax was set by a March provisional measure to help fund diesel subsidies and curb fuel price spikes, with March inflation at 0.88% and diesel prices up 13.9% month over month.
• The suspension covers Shell, Equinor, TotalEnergies, Repsol Sinopec and Petrogal, which together produced about 791,486 barrels per day in February, while Petrobras, with roughly 60% of output, has not sued.
• The government’s legal office argued the levy regulates trade to protect the domestic market, yet the trial judge kept the injunction even after admitting he cited text not in the MP, and the appeals judge said the government showed no concrete, grave and current risk to justify reversal.
• The case awaits a full merits hearing at TRF‑2, and the government is expected to seek relief at the Superior Court of Justice, according to G1.