An early start to Brazil's dry season, which runs from April through November, could prompt an increase in LNG imports as Brazil looks to shore up hydroelectric power with natural gas imports used to feed its gas-fired thermal power plants, capable of generating up to 10,178 MW, the electric system operator, ONS, said in a report.

Brazil imported four LNG tankers with a total volume of 11.76 Bcf of gas in the first 10 days of April, Platts unit Eclipse Energy data showed Monday. At their current pace, LNG imports this month will outpace April 2014 imports, which totaled just 23.08 Bcf, by more than 50%.

Under normal climatic conditions Brazil's hydroelectric dams can generate sufficient energy to meet 80% of its power demand. During the recent drought, thermal plants including those fired by gas, coal, biomass, fuel oil and diesel have been picking up the slack left by depleted reservoirs.

Based on the current forecast, Brazil's Southeast and Midwest dams will generate just 56.2% of its total hydroelectric power in April. That falls significantly short of installed capacity, which allows regional dams to generate more than 70% of the nation's hydroelectric power under non-drought conditions.

As of Sunday, hydroelectric reservoirs across all five of Brazil's regions were generating 70.4% of the Brazil's electric power, compared to 23.7% from the nation's conventional thermal plants, ONS data showed.