Brazil’s Energy Agenda: New COA Report Suggests Prioritizing Natural Gas and Ethanol

New York, September 4, 2013— As Brazil prepares to auction exploration rights of promising offshore oil and natural gas areas in October, it’s important to understand the many challenges the country faces in terms of energy investments. Based on high-level meetings in Brazil with government representatives, energy companies, regulators, multilaterals, and corporations, the report “Brazil’s Energy Agenda: The Way Forward” released today by Council of the Americas’ Energy Action Group (EAG) analyzes the country’s energy sector and issues six recommendations to create an appropriate policy mix for the optimization of the resources.

The recommendations are:

1. In order to increase certainty for investment in the pre-salt oil fields, production sharing contracts must balance the right amount of risk and profitability potential in order to incentivize companies to bid on blocks and develop the fields.
2. Brazil should prioritize development of the natural gas sector, which has a large growth potential.
3. Brazil should pursue policies favorable towards the development of both sugar-based and second-generation ethanol, including continued tax relief and access to credit.
4. Hydropower should be supplemented with thermal power as necessary to fill in reliability gaps.
5. Energy efficiency should also be pursued aggressively in parallel to the development of renewable energy sources.
6. Government must commit to a stable and long term regulatory policy for the entire energy sector.

Click here to view the report.

To speak with our experts on this topic, please contact Adriana La Rotta at alarotta@as-coa.org or 212-277-8384.

Council of the Americas’ Energy Action Group (EAG) brings together the public and private sectors to develop strategic energy policies for the Americas. The EAG hosts forums in cities across the Americas and publishes working papers and recommendations on key energy and climate topics.