Energy Consumption Overview in Brazil

The rapid demographic growth Brazil has experienced since the installation of the First
Republic (1889) was mediated by the large size of its territory and the abundance of natural
resources. Industrialization was perceived by part of the Brazilian elite as a necessary step to
promote economic development, but the country started very slowly to consider the
exploitation of its own energetic sources as relevant to achieve the social gains that would
be compatible with the desired material progress. The panorama afforded by this article will
present some highlights of this process, as it unfolded in the main components of the
energetic mix, i.e. fossil fuels, biofuels, nuclear energy, and electricity.

Following economic trends, the growth in global energy consumption halved in 2022 (from +4.9% in
2021 to 2.1% in 2022, which remains higher than the average 2010-2019 rate (+1.4%/year).

In 2022, energy consumption growth slowed down in the two largest consuming countries: it
increased by 3% (compared to +5.2% in 2021) in China, the world's largest energy consumer (25% in
2022), while it rose by 1.8% in the USA (+4.9% in 2021). Strong economic growth pulled energy
consumption in India (+7.3%), Indonesia (+21%) and Saudi Arabia (+8.4%), and to a lesser extent in
Canada (+3.8%) and in Latin America (+2.7%, including +2.4% in Brazil and Mexico and +4.5% in
Argentina). It also increased by around 3% in the Middle East and Africa (despite a 4.5%
consumption drop in South Africa due to coal supply tensions and forced loadshedding in the power
sector).

Total Energy Consumption in Brazil

With a per capita consumption of 1.4 toe (2022), Brazil is within the average range for semi-
industrialised countries but well below the European average of 2.9 toe.
Total energy consumption increased by 2.4% in 2022 to 308 Mtoe, following a 4.5% rebound
in 2021 after a 2% reduction in 2020. It remained roughly stable between 2016 and 2019,
and increased at a fairly rapid pace between 2000 and 2014 (3.5%/year).

Oil Products Consumption

Brazil is the world's 8th-largest oil producer. Up to 1997, the government-owned Petróleo
Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) had a monopoly on oil. More than 50 oil companies now are
engaged in oil exploration. The only global oil producer is Petrobras, with an output of more
than 2 million barrels (320,000 m3) of oil equivalent per day. It is also a major distributor of
oil products, and owns oil refineries and oil tankers.
In 2006, Brazil had 11.2 billion barrels (1.78×10 9 m3) the second-largest proven oil reserves
in South America after Venezuela. The vast majority of proven reserves were located in the
Campos and Santos offshore basins off the southeast coast of Brazil. In November 2007,
Petrobras announced that it believed the offshore Tupi oil field had between 5 and 8 billion
barrels (1.3×109 m3) of recoverable light oil and neighbouring fields may even contain more,
which all in all could result in Brazil becoming one of the largest producers of oil in the
world.
Brazil has been a net exporter of oil since 2011. However, the country still imports some
light oil from the Middle East, because several refineries, built in the 1960s and 1970s under
the military government, are not suited to process the heavy oil in Brazilian reserves,
discovered decades later.
Transpetro, a wholly owned subsidiary of Petrobras, operates a crude oil transport network.
The system consists of 6,000 kilometres (3,700 mi) of crude oil pipelines, coastal import
terminals, and inland storage facilities.
Oil product consumption rose by 2% in 2022 to 107 Mt, after a rebound by 10% in 2021.
Previously, it increased strongly between 2003 and 2014 (+3.5%/year, on average), then
decreased by 4%/year between 2014 and 2020.

The transport sector is the main oil consumer (62% of consumption), followed by the
residential-services sector (12%), non-energy uses (11%), industry energy uses (10%),
hydrocarbon industry (3%) and power plants (2%).

Natural Gas Consumption

At the end of 2017, the proven reserves of Brazil's natural gas were 369 x 10 9 m³, with
possible reserves expected to be 2 times higher. Until recently natural gas was produced as
a by-product of the oil industry. The main reserves in use are located at Campos and Santos
Basins. Other natural gas basins include Foz do Amazonas, Ceara e Potiguar, Pernambuco e
Paraíba, Sergipe/Alagoas, Espírito Santo and Amazonas (onshore). Petrobras controls over
90 percent of Brazil's natural gas reserves.

Brazil's inland gas pipeline systems are operated by Petrobras subsidiary Transpetro. In
2005, construction began on the Gas Unificação (Gasun pipeline) which will link Mato
Grosso do Sul in southwest Brazil, to Maranhão in the northeast. China's Sinopec is a
contractor for the Gasene pipeline, which will link the northeast and southeast networks.
Petrobras is also constructing the Urucu-Manaus pipeline, which will link the Urucu gas
reserves to power plants in the state of Amazonas.] In 2015 the sale of 255 parcels for
fracking was opposed with protest actions during and at the auction.

In 2005, the gas production was 18.7 x 10 9 m³, which is less than the natural gas
consumption of Brazil. Gas imports come mainly from Bolivia's Rio Grande basin through the
Bolivia-Brazil gas pipeline (Gasbol pipeline), from Argentina through the Transportadora de
Gas de Mercosur pipeline (Paraná-Uruguaiana pipeline), and from LNG imports. Brazil has
held talks with Venezuela and Argentina about building a new pipeline system Gran
Gasoducto del Sur linking the three countries; however, the plan has not moved beyond the
planning stages.

Gas demand dropped by 23% in 2022 to 32 bcm due to lower needs for electricity
production (gas was used to substitute weaker hydroelectricity production in 2021 due to an
important drought) and higher prices. It decreased by 21% to 34.5 bcm between 2014 and
2020. It rose at the strong pace of 12%/year between 1999 and 2014, mainly due to the
power sector and, to a lesser extent, industry.

Coal Consumption

Brazil has total coal reserves of about 30 billion tonnes, but the deposits vary by the quality
and quantity. The proved recoverable reserves are around 10 billion tonnes. In 2004 Brazil
produced 5.4 million tonnes of coal, while coal consumption reached 21.9 million tonnes.
Almost all of Brazil's coal output is steam coal, of which about 85% is fired in power stations.
Reserves of sub-bituminous coal are located mostly in the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa
Catarina and Paraná.[16]

Coal consumption decreased by 25% in 2022 reaching 21.6 Mt. It peaked at around 29 Mt in
2021 due to higher use of coal power plants to substitute weak hydro production. Over the
last years, the trend in coal consumption is decreasing (-5%/year from 2015 to 2020).

Power Consumption

Power sector reforms were launched in the mid-1990s and a new regulatory framework was
applied in 2004. In 2004, Brazil had 86.5 GW of installed generating capacity and it produced
387 Twh of electricity. As of today 66% of distribution and 28% of power generation is
owned by private companies.[2] In 2004, 59 companies operated in power generation and 64
in electricity distribution.
The major power company is Centrais Elétricas Brasileiras (Eletrobrás), which together with
its subsidiaries generates and transmits approximately 60% of Brazil's electric supply. The
largest private-owned power company is Tractebel Energia. An independent system
operator (Operador Nacional do Sistema Elétrico [pt] - ((ONS)), responsible for the technical
coordination of electricity dispatching and the management of transmission services, and a
wholesale market were created in 1998.

Electricity consumption has increased by around 1.5%/year between 2015 and 2022 to 570
TWh Previously, it increased rapidly between 2001 and 2015 (around 3.8%/year). Almost all
households are electrified (99.95% in 2022).

Biofuels Consumption

In 2020, Brazil was the 2nd largest country in the world in the production of energy through
biomass (energy production from solid biofuels and renewable waste), with 15,2 GW
installed.

Due to its ethanol fuel production, Brazil has sometimes been described as a bio-energy
superpower. Ethanol fuel is produced from sugar cane. Brazil has the largest sugar cane crop
in the world, and is the largest exporter of ethanol in the world. With the 1973 oil crisis, the
Brazilian government initiated in 1975 the Pró-Álcool program. The Pró-Álcool or Programa
Nacional do Álcool (National Alcohol Program) was a nationwide program financed by the
government to phase out all automobile fuels derived from fossil fuels in favour of ethanol.
The program successfully reduced by 10 million the number of cars running on gasoline in
Brazil, thereby reducing the country's dependence on oil imports.

The production and consumption of biodiesel is expected to reach to 2% of diesel fuel in

2008 and 5% in 2013.

Brazil's peat reserves are estimated at 25 billion tonnes, the highest in South America.
However, no production of peat for fuel has yet been developed. Brazil produces 65 million
tonnes of fuelwood per year. The annual production of charcoal is about 6 million tonnes,
used in the steel industry. The cogeneration potential of agricultural and livestock residues
varies from 4 GW to 47 GW by 2025.
Most bioenergy (75%) in Brazil is from solid biomass (2,967 PJ). This is predominantly
bagasse, consumed for internal energy provision in the sugar and ethanol industry. Only
about 313 PJ of solid biomass is consumed by the residential sector. The other 25% of
bioenergy are liquid biofuels. Biogas has a limited role (11 PJ).
 References

https://www.enerdata.net/estore/energy-market/brazil/

https://ourworldindata.org/energy/country/brazil

https://yearbook.enerdata.net/total-energy/world-consumption-statistics.html

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/electricity-prod-source-stacked

https://www.energyhistory.eu/en/panorama/energy-brazil-historical-overview

https://www.encyclopedie-energie.org/en/world-energy-consumption-1800-2000-results/