Fossil fuels make Brazil go round

Although the South American country is famous for having one the cleanest energy matrixes in the world – a result of the historical development of its hydropower potential – fossil fuels still account for more than half of Brazil’s primary energy consumption. In fact, while crude oil consumption in the Portuguese-speaking country experienced a mostly downward trend for half a decade, it remained the leading source of primary energy in 2019. In the meantime, despite representing a much smaller share of the energy supply, coal demand in Brazil is still heavily reliant on the external market, with imports adding up to billions of dollars each year.

A sector that remains mostly in government hands

Petrobras, the national oil corporation, is by far the most important player in the Brazilian oil and gas sector, with a revenue of more than 300 billion Brazilian reals in 2019 (roughly 77 billion U.S. dollars). This hegemony is the result of more than four decades of exclusive rights to oil exploration in the country. Although legally the company has not held a monopoly since 1997, it remains largely unrivaled, accounting for more than 90 percent of the national crude oil production. In recent years, however, some of the world’s oil giants have succeeded in establishing themselves in the South American petroleum potency, such as Norwegian Equinor, French Total, and Dutch Shell – the latter being also one of the largest players in the fuel distribution segment, through its licensee Raízen.

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