' New gas will reflect on the price of energy '

RIO-The new natural gas market will help reduce the price of the light bill – including for companies. By calculating Décio Oddone, Director-General of the National Agency for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP), it is possible to cut half the cost of the megawatt produced in the thermal plants, one of the main sources of generation of the Brazilian energy matrix. On Monday, the government launched a package to cheapize the fuel. The first effects should appear at the October Energy auction. In an exclusive interview with Estadão/Broadcast, Oddone said he expects more gas projects to be offered and at a lower price than the last competition. Another bet is that investments in gas pipelines and new thermal plants concentrate in the southeast, where is the pre-salt and will be extracted large volume of gas, and also the main energy consumer center. Read the main excerpts of the interview: If all pre-salt gas was being produced, it would be exported, due to lack of demand. What would today justify investments in the expansion of pipelines? It is natural that there is a greater connection between the gas market and the electrical system. The anchor is to start having thermal gas generation on a larger scale. For the future, a greater presence of thermal gas generation. From there, it could have construction of pipelines, development of the supply of offshore gas and an additional market for industry, vehicles and trade. Will the electricity get cheaper? Yes. Today, much of the generation is with fuel oil and diesel. With the gas, the value is much smaller. Roraima, for example, was generating with diesel more than R $1000 per megawatt. Now, with the gas, the price has fallen in half. These measures will be reflected in a reduction in the price of electricity. But the price reduction will not happen now... There's no free lunch. Or we start doing things to work out in one, two, three, four years, or we don't do anything. The price, however, will already be reflected in this year's energy auction. Will there be an association of oil companies with the electric sector for the construction of gas thermal? I'm sure of it. It has a project with this model in Porto do Açu (in Rio de Janeiro). Shell entered a thermal project in Macaé, in partnership with the turbine (thermal) supplier. It's a model we're going to start seeing more often. The tendency is for the thermal to be installed close to the producing fields, that is, more in Rio and São Paulo? Coincidentally, in Brazil, the consumption of electricity is close to the gas supply center. The pre-salt is in front of Rio and São Paulo. Does it make sense, then, that the thermals are installed in the southeast? Yes. As it makes sense that in the Northeast, where there is dependence of thermal oil and diesel fuel, there is substitution by gas models. We also do not want to depend on the fuel imported for the rest life, having gas in Sergipe and southeast. So how do we predict in the upcoming energy auctions The substitution of the gas imported by the domestic? These are the things that are being discussed. Who's going to put money in the gas pipeline expansion? The next expansion will be made by the pipeline operators, by Engie or Broookfield. Anyone who wants to use the duct will have to hire the transporter capacity. Does ANP have any idea how much gas Petrobrás ceases to produce today? It is difficult to make this assessment (but there are other opportunities), as in shale (schist gas). In the United States, he made a revolution. In Brazil, there is an estimate that there are 230 million cubic feet of gas (shale type) of appeal. But why stir it up, which provokes so much contestation on the part of environmentalists? This has been done 700,000 times in the US. Is there no way to mitigate the risks of something that's been practiced for decades? We're considering the risks, the only thing we don't consider is poverty. Shall we give up these resources? How will the shale be sold? On the day we succeed in convincing society, it will be auctioned off via a permanent offer, because there is no more auction of land areas. We have to stop the barriers.