Energy

Product is at the center of the "cheap energy shock" announced by Minister Guedes

The government announced  last June the guidelines for the new natural gas market , by breaking Petrobras' monopoly, improving transport regulation, and encouraging modernization of distribution regulation. The goal of the measure is to sharply reduce the price of energy and the cost of industry in the country.

Natural gas is a non-renewable fossil fuel, but with a low environmental impact, for emitting less pollutants than coal or petroleum, for example. Found in deposits or underground deposits, natural gas reserves are usually associated with petroleum, as the two substances undergo a similar transformation process and accumulate in the same type of soil. With the pre-salt and the auction of the onerous assignment surplus, the Secretariat of Evaluation, Planning, Energy and Lottery (Secap) of the Ministry of Economy is expected to double gas production in Brazil in the next ten years. Currently, it represents about 13% of the Brazilian energy matrix. 

Different from cooking gas, natural gas is considered as the gas of the industry since, after being treated and processed, it has a high energy content, being much used for both energy generation and raw material in the most diverse industrial segments, such as the production of food, glass, plastic, fertilizers, beauty products and building materials, for example. 

Therefore, the reduction of the price of natural gas, through greater competitiveness in the sector, has the potential to significantly reduce the cost of the industrial sector in the country, making our industry much more competitive.

"With the opening, we will have a more competitive gas, which will make our industry also more competitive. In addition to being concentrated, today our market does not present incentives to efficiency in the distribution segment. This is a unique opportunity to reactivate our industrialization and generate more opportunities for investment, employment and income for the country, "says Alexandre Manoel, secretary of Public Policies, Planning, Energy and Lottery at the Ministry of Economy. 

In addition, as around 20% of total cooking gas (LPG) originates from natural gas, the measure has the potential to also reach cooking gas, reducing the value of the gas from the cylinder.