Brazil New Gas Law Policy Brief

5 BRAZIL ’ S NEW GAS LAW

INSTITUTE OF THE AMERICAS POLICY BRIEF

from Bolivia - almost half of the country’s imported supply of 41.13 million m³/day. Nevertheless, Bolivia represents a supply risk for Brazil, as it has not had reserve replacement in the last 10 years. The movement of O&G companies Given the potential of the Brazilian gas market, many companies have been positioning themselves to explore, produce and monetize onshore and offshore gas reserves. The day after the law was enacted, Equinor announced the transport route for the natural gas production from Pão de Açúcar, one of the main natural gas projects under development in Brazil scheduled to go into operation in 2026. The Norwegian company is also developing Bacalhau, a Pre-Salt reservoir of high quality oil and associated gas that makes it one of the biggest oil discoveries of the last decade in Brazil. BP has been building the largest natural gas thermoelectric park in Latin America, located in Porto do Açu (state of Rio de Janeiro) to make commercial use of Pre-Salt gas. The British company will be the exclusive supplier of the liquefied natural gas that will supply the project. The project involves the construction of two thermal plants powered by natural

gas which, together, will reach 3 GW of installed capacity.

Shell has invested 700 million US dollars to build a natural gas thermoelectric plant in Macaé (state of Rio de Janeiro) called Marlim Azul. The plant, expected to start operation in 2023, will use natural gas produced by Shell in the pre-salt fields. However, the opportunities are not just restricted to the Pre-Salt layer. In the Sergipe-Alagoas basin, ExxonMobil owns 11 exploratory blocks with a huge potential for gas discoveries. On the other hand, the Brazilian independent company Eneva has been developing the Reservoir-to-wire (RW2) model that combines the exploration and production of onshore natural gas with the generation of electricity. The company will apply the R2W model in the states of Amazonas and Maranhão.

April, 2021

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