Questão 863460

Text I

Cane surpasses power dams in Brazil energy complex

Thu May 8, 2008 2:41pm EDT

By Denise Luna

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Sugar cane and cane-

based ethanol became a more important energy source

than hydroelectric power plants in Brazil’s overall energy

complex last year, topped only by petroleum and oil

5 products.

The government’s EPE energy planning agency said on

Thursday sugar cane had a 16 percent share in the

country’s so-called energy matrix — a combination of

all sources of energy including fuels and electricity —

10 while power dams were left behind with a 14.7 percent

share.

Oil and derivatives had a 36.7 percent weighting, dropping

from 37.8 percent in 2006. “It’s a historic year in that

sense, it’s an irreversible trend,” EPE President Mauricio

15 Tolmasquim told reporters. He attributed the growing role

of sugar cane to booming demand for ethanol as a motor

fuel, but expected more cane and ethanol to be used for

electricity generation as well.

Brazil is a world leader in biofuels with decades of

20 valuable expertise in using ethanol in cars.

In February 2007, the consumption of ethanol surpassed

that of gasoline for the first time in two decades. The

trend is driven by a drop in ethanol prices and huge sales

of flex-fuel cars that can run on ethanol, gasoline or any

25 mix of the two.

Hydrous ethanol consumption jumped 46 percent last

year to 10.4 billion liters, while the usage of anhydrous

ethanol that is mostly blended into gasoline sold in Brazil

rose nearly 20 percent to 6.2 billion liters, EPE said. At

30 the same time, gasoline consumption in the country

dipped almost 4 percent to 18 billion liters.

Tolmasquim said it was important that Latin America’s

largest country was self-sufficient in the three main

sources of energy, including oil. Brazil met its oil needs

35 with domestic output for the first time in 2006.

It still needs to import some light crude to mix with heavy

local crudes for refining, but it also exports heavy oil.

Last year’s exports totaled an average of 421,000 barrels

per day and imports stood at 418,000 bpd.

40 All nonrenewable energy’s share fell to 53.6 percent in

the overall complex in 2007 from 55.1 percent in 2006,

with coal gaining some ground on its increased use in

steelmaking. Nuclear energy’s share was just 1.4

percent.

45 Renewables, which include hydroelectricity, ethanol and

plant-based biodiesel, gained to a 46.4 percent weighting

from 44.9 percent. The use of renewable energy sources

in Brazil by far surpasses the world’s average of around

13 percent, EPE said.

(Writing by Andrei Khalip; Editing by Christian Wiessner)

Disponível em: <http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/

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