Brazil to reach oil self-sufficiency next year, explores other sources
Brazil to reach oil self-sufficiency next year, explores other sources
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
October 25, 2005
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) - Brazil will achieve its long-sought goal of oil self-sufficiency next year, Mines and Energy Minister Silas Rondeau said Tuesday.
Latin America's biggest country, an oil importer for decades, now produces about 1.73 million barrels of oil a day and projects year-end consumption of 1.85 million barrels a day. But next year, Brazil will produce more than it uses.
"Self-sufficiency in petroleum should be reached ... in 2006," Rondeau said in a radio interview.
It's quite a change from the 1970s, when Brazil imported 85 percent of the oil it consumed, deepening a foreign debt that caused a financial crisis lasting more than a decade.
But advanced underwater drilling technology and new offshore fields _ especially in the Campos Basin near Rio de Janeiro _ have put production and consumption nearly even. Brazil even exports heavy crude and gasoline, although it still imports light crude and diesel fuel.
Brazil also is exploring other energy sources, including natural gas, Rondeau said. The country buys much of its gas from neighboring Bolivia, but political turbulence there has made supply uncertain.
"We estimate that in 10 years we'll have 70 million cubic meters of gas a day _ about four times what we have now," Rondeau told the government news service Agencia Brasil.
"We think we'll have more and more natural gas available," Rondeau said, although he said it was too early to say when Brazil would reach self-sufficiency in gas. "With this, the role of foreign gas, like Bolivian, will be reduced."
The government also will develop alternative and "clean" energy sources for remote areas like the Amazon rain forest, where a recent drought shrank rivers and hampered delivery of food, medication and fuel.
"We're stressing wind energy, small hydroelectric dams and biomass energy, which can come from wood residue or sugar cane bagasse," Rondeau said.
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
October 25, 2005
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) - Brazil will achieve its long-sought goal of oil self-sufficiency next year, Mines and Energy Minister Silas Rondeau said Tuesday.
Latin America's biggest country, an oil importer for decades, now produces about 1.73 million barrels of oil a day and projects year-end consumption of 1.85 million barrels a day. But next year, Brazil will produce more than it uses.
"Self-sufficiency in petroleum should be reached ... in 2006," Rondeau said in a radio interview.
It's quite a change from the 1970s, when Brazil imported 85 percent of the oil it consumed, deepening a foreign debt that caused a financial crisis lasting more than a decade.
But advanced underwater drilling technology and new offshore fields _ especially in the Campos Basin near Rio de Janeiro _ have put production and consumption nearly even. Brazil even exports heavy crude and gasoline, although it still imports light crude and diesel fuel.
Brazil also is exploring other energy sources, including natural gas, Rondeau said. The country buys much of its gas from neighboring Bolivia, but political turbulence there has made supply uncertain.
"We estimate that in 10 years we'll have 70 million cubic meters of gas a day _ about four times what we have now," Rondeau told the government news service Agencia Brasil.
"We think we'll have more and more natural gas available," Rondeau said, although he said it was too early to say when Brazil would reach self-sufficiency in gas. "With this, the role of foreign gas, like Bolivian, will be reduced."
The government also will develop alternative and "clean" energy sources for remote areas like the Amazon rain forest, where a recent drought shrank rivers and hampered delivery of food, medication and fuel.
"We're stressing wind energy, small hydroelectric dams and biomass energy, which can come from wood residue or sugar cane bagasse," Rondeau said.
posted by Marcel at 11:23 AM
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