Brazil to revise Petrobras’s gas monopoly
Brazil’s Mines and Energy Minister Bento Albuquerque said Thursday (Apr. 11) that the government will open the natural gas market for the competition. Petrobras’s exclusive participation in most activities linked to gas imports and production goes against the interest of consumers.
“We see that this monopoly is not a health thing, especially for the development of the sector for consumers,” Albuquerque said, listing the accomplishments and projects of the ministry in the first hundred days of the Bolsonaro administration.
“Petrobras must be part of a public policy, and that’s what we’re outlining,” added the minister, explaining that the move comes as part of new public policies on energy.
The minister noted that the topic is still being debated by the group made up of representatives from the ministry, Petrobras, the National Agency of Oil, Natural Gas, and Biofuels, and the Administrative Council for Economic Defense. “We’re working to define the new gas market,” he added.
Uranium
Bento Albuquerque said the Brazilian government is also considering ways to allow the participation of the private enterprise in uranium mining with no need for a change in the Constitution.
“There is a ministerial group deliberating on the [topic], and we believe studies will be concluded by June. Whatever must be considered by Congress will be, but our goal is for [uranium] mining to be allowed through regulations,” the minister reported.
“There already has been work linked to uranium mining in Brazil. We have alternatives aimed doing mining with private investment without the need to change the Constitution,” he went on to say.
As it stands today, the Constitution ensures the state’s monopoly on the exploration of uranium—an activity controlled by the Nuclear Industries of Brazil. The country is among the world’s top uranium producers. “The Constitution also grants the federal government reserved power to legislate on nuclear activities of any nature,” Albuquerque concluded.
