Brazil enjoys a privileged position compared with other countries, when it comes to guaranteed energy supplies, in terms not only of fossil fuel production growth potential but renewable energy sources as well.
This affirmation was made Thursday, February 2, by the president of Petrobras, José Sérgio Gabrielli, during a ceremony for the signing of a protocol of intentions to develop studies aimed at the implantation of an alcohol pipeline linking the state of Goiás, in central Brazil, to the Paulínia refinery in the state of São Paulo, in the southeastern region of the country.
According to Gabrielli, the degree of concern over guaranteed energy supplies, particularly how this question affects the developed countries, was made clear at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
He recalled that Petrobras is now the world’s 14th largest petroleum company, "with the advantage of having a much greater capacity than the other companies to develop new frontiers, based on our own reserves."
Gabrielli emphasized the reserves that have yet to be developed: deep-sea production and energy generation from renewable sources.
"Brazil possesses the world’s largest fossil fuel replacement program. Our gasoline is a mixture containing 25% of alcohol. We are the only country in the world with a distribution network in which every gas station (there are more than 30,000) has at least one alcohol pump.
"We also have the structure and technology to distribute alcohol all over the country. Therefore, from the point of view of consumers of ethanol fuel, we are a country of the future that has made it a reality in the present," he emphasized.
The international alcohol market, Gabrielli observed, is essentially alcohol for chemical or pharmaceutical applications. Brazil, he added, is the only country in the world that has a fuel alcohol market. And the growth of this market "is a strategic matter not only for Petrobras or for Brazil, but for the future of humanity as well."
Agência Brasil
