Rio de Janeiro- The CEO of Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency (ANP), Magda Chambriard, said this Thursday (17th) that Brazil will be able to export 1.5 million barrels of oil per day within ten years, a twofold increase over current levels. The daily average figure will place the country alongside top producing countries such as Norway.
The target may be met due to pre-salt layer exploration. “If all goes as planned and the pre-salt is developed as intended, then within the next ten years we will be capable of shipping 1.5 million barrels of oil per day,” said the CEO during the launch of the tanker Rômulo Almeida, at the Mauá shipyard in Niterói. In the next decade, she added, diesel oil output and consumption will also double in the country.
Chambriard also said the rate of ethanol in gasoline will increase from the current 20% to 25%, probably in April. She said the ethanol increase will take place as soon as processing for this year’s crop is done, in March, and there is a supply of ethanol, which should take place in April.
The Brazilian government believes that by increasing the rate of ethanol in gasoline, it may cushion the impact that the gasoline price readjustment has on inflation. This is not the first time that the federal government changes the rate of ethanol in gasoline. In 2011, there was a sugarcane crop failure. On that occasion, the rate of ethanol in gasoline was lowered from 25% to 20%.
The measure is also catering to demand from oil company Petrobras. In 2012, the state-owned enterprise’s gasoline imports were up 70%, causing the company’s spending to go up. As a result of the increased rate of ethanol in gasoline, Petrobras will need to import less of the fuel.
*With information from the ANBA Newsroom. Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
