Brazil, a longtime leader in developing alternative energy for its transportation sector and its electricity, has recently discovered a truly gigantic supply of oil under its ocean waters. (Hmm, are we still so sure about peak oil?) Critics, meanwhile, fear that the nation’s forward-looking energy policies have just taken a big step backward and that the country will become just another oil oligarchy. [%comments]
Will Brazil Binge on Oil?
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Also (from a Brazilian point of view, like Luca), we have to bring into the equation the aeolian energy factor. It is becoming a bigger and bigger ‘rumor’, and a more serious enterprise by the second. It is being seriously considered as a source of energy in the years to come.
I don’t think Brazil will become the next Venezuela (democracy is currently too strong for that to happen) nor will it fall under the oil oligarchy category. I like what ‘blind hog’ said, about being a country that is so full of highs and lows that it is painful to watch. It’s sometimes painful to live here, also.
The problem is that here in Brazil the oil company, Petrobras – even being America’s 4th biggest company (http://bit.ly/MLA8w) – is controlled by the govenment. So, despite great technological advances, it is managed aiming political purposes.
On the other hand, alternative fuels – namely Ethanol – are produced by oligarchies. Most of new vehicles sold in Brazil today can use both fuels. This is giving even more power to the groups that control ethenol prices (which are adjusted according to sugar cane quotation on international commodities markets).
As we see, far from being a pure environmentalist discussion, it involves a political advantage the government is trying to get (by overemphasizing Petrobras’ feats) versus the commercial interests of a long-established economical group (which, as it turns out, also has a strong political presence).
Besides, cargo transportation in Brazil today is disproportionately based on roads and trucks (which means diesel). Considering our continental dimensions, and the fact that industry is extremely concentrated in the Southeastern area, it’s an strategic flaw not to have more railroads or fluvial transport.
Finally, it seems that these questions are viewed only through the lenses of political interests – never getting even close to environmental issues or utility theories.
Best regards, Rodolfo.
The problem is that here in Brazil the oil company, Petrobras – even being America’s 4th biggest company (http://bit.ly/MLA8w) – is controlled by the govenment. So, despite great technological advances, it is managed aiming political purposes.
On the other hand, alternative fuels – namely Ethanol – are produced by oligarchies. Most of new vehicles sold in Brazil today can use both fuels. This is giving even more power to the groups that control ethenol prices (which are adjusted according to sugar cane quotation on international commodities markets).
As we see, far from being a pure environmentalist discussion, it involves a political advantage the government is trying to get (by overemphasizing Petrobras’ feats) versus the commercial interests of a long-established economical group (which, as it turns out, also has a strong political presence).
Besides, cargo transportation in Brazil today is disproportionately based on roads and trucks (which means diesel). Considering our continental dimensions, and the fact that industry is extremely concentrated in the Southeastern area, it’s an strategic flaw not to have more railroads or fluvial transport.
Finally, it seems that these questions are viewed only through the lenses of political interests – never getting even close to environmental issues or utility theories.
Best regards, Rodolfo.
Altho the cost of extracting the oil is extremelly high, Petrobras belives that investing in it now will pay off since it will take some good years before they are opperational.
By then lots can happen, and you can always count with instability in the middle east to make your oil more expensive.
Also, there are not enough ultra deep drilling machinery out there to do the job, they are ordering them from all around the world.
At the end of the day, they want to master this technollogy because they probably believe there are many more ultra deep oil pockets out there, and we have such a huge coastline that finding it is a question of time (if they exist, and it seems they do!)
Peak oil is a myth. Although the oil supply is finite, it is not limited to oil in the ground because we have synthetic oil. Plants produce oil, as do some algae. There are also fermentation-based ways of producing oil that do not require direct sunlight. There are some abstract limits, but the peak oil vision of running out will never happen. There is no peak oil, merely a transition from drilled oil to synthetic oil. Brazil may slow this transition down a bit or have some small effect on cost but is mostly irrelevant.
I worry about the rise of the currency hurting their thriving, competitive and job prolific manufacturing industry.
truths:
1 – we are afraid that the American people will somehow take the Brazil, lying pretexts in order to greed on the oil and Amazonia
2-The environmental and social costs to produce ethanol in Brazil is enormous. The plants pollute the soil, air and waters in a manner unacceptable
truths:
1 – we are afraid that the American people will somehow take the Brazil, lying pretexts in order to greed on the oil and Amazonia
2-The environmental and social costs to produce ethanol in Brazil is enormous. The plants pollute the soil, air and waters in a manner unacceptable