Petrobras CEO says oil to fall, no fuel hike needed

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* Says Brazil won't increase fuel prices now, but may be forced to

* Petrobras strategic plans assume $100 a barrel oil price in 2012

RIO DE JANEIRO, March 9 (Reuters) - Oil prices are likely to fall as political tensions fuelling the rise ease, which would make any increase in Brazilian fuel prices unnecessary, the chief executive officer of state-led oil firm Petrobras said on Thursday.

"We expect that prices will cool, as lower geopolitical pressure in the big petroleum producers is reduced," CEO Maria das Graças Foster told Globo News, the 24-Hour Brazilian news channel.

"We don't believe that this spike will transform itself into a new norm for oil prices," she said.

Fears of a supply disruption due to Iran's tensions with the West over its nuclear ambitions has helped the price of Brent crude jump 17 percent this year to more than $125 a barrel, its highest level in 3-1/2 years.

Petrobras' strategic plans assume an average Brent oil price of $100 for 2012 and a "long-term" price of $80 to $90 a barrel, Foster said.

Brazil has not raised fuel prices in nearly four years as the government seeks to control inflation and maintain economic growth.

A tax cut allowed Petrobras to increase its revenue from wholesale gasoline sales in October without raising costs, but the company's refining division still incurred a loss of 7.6 billion reais ($4.3 billion) in the second half of 2011 as it had to pay for oil at global prices.

Petrobas' losses have been made worse by a need to import record levels of gasoline to fuel economic growth and also due to a shortage of alternative fuel ethanol.

In February, gasoline imports were a third higher than a year earlier, Foster said.

Foster, however, said Petrobras may be forced to increase fuel prices to consumers if oil prices kept climbing.

"If prices rise to successive higher levels you arrive at a moment when you have to pass the higher costs on," she said. "There is no possibility of not correcting the gasoline price."

She declined to say what price would trigger a correction.

Petrobras is controlled by Brazil's government but it has many non-government investors and is traded on various stock exchanges, including Sao Paulo and New York. (Reporting by Sabrina Lorenzi; Writing by Jeb Blount; editing by Miral Fahmy)

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