By Gabriel Stargardter, Gram Slattery and Rodrigo Viga Gaier

RIO DE JANEIRO, (Reuters) – Three people familiar with the matter said that in March US officials asked Petrobras, Brazil’s oil-producing state company Petrobras if it would increase its crude production after Russia invaded Ukraine. This sent world prices soaring.

According to sources, they left empty-handed.

According to sources, Petrobras (formerly Petroleo Brasileiro SA) officials stated that production levels were determined by business strategy, not diplomacy, and also said that it would be difficult logistically to achieve a significant increase in output.

A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department stated that they were doing all possible to reduce economic impact of Russian actions on countries like Brazil in a statement sent to Reuters. We are working closely with the energy companies to increase their ability to supply energy to this market as prices rise.

However, the spokesperson didn’t comment on specific details of the meeting in March with Petrobras officials.

Petrobras said that it had not met with any representatives from the U.S. State Department. When asked by the U.S. Government agency if they had contacted it, Petrobras did not reply to that request.

Washington is making an aggressive diplomatic push to ensure global oil supplies are secure and maintain a low price after Moscow invaded Ukraine. U.S. officials are also trying to build relations with President Jairbolsonaro’s right-wing government despite differences over Ukraine and his environment policy.

Brazil is the ninth largest oil producer in the world.

U.S. officials called for domestic producers to increase output. Jennifer Granholm (U.S. Energy Secretary) stated in March that the country was “on war footing.”

U.S. officials also traveled to Venezuela in March for the first bilateral high-level talks since years. Both sides talked about the lifting of oil sanctions against Venezuela.

Brazil’s Energy and Mines Minister Bento Albuquerque said in April to Reuters that he had spoken with Granholm two times about the role of Brazil in keeping global crude oil prices under control. Few details of the government-to-government talks have emerged previously.

U.S. officials inquired about Petrobras’ ability to expand short-term production capacity during the March meeting. According to U.S. Government and Petrobras sources who asked anonymity for private talks,

According to one source, initial contact was made between Brazil and the U.S. governments. Petrobras representatives were then consulted during an informal follow-up meeting.

Officials at Petrobras responded by saying that this move wasn’t possible due to logistics and strategic goals.

However, they stated that Petrobras had increased medium-term production to meet a previously announced goal of adding 500,000 barrels of crude oil per day by 2026.

Petrobras executives claim that Petrobras operates independent from the government but, in reality, it has the largest shareholder.

($1 = 5.08 reais)