The discussion about the new natural gas market gained strength with the urgency regime approved at the end of July in the Chamber. The government says that the project will unlock investments in the sector, packed by the increase in pre-salt production. But Abegás, an association that brings together gas distributors, defends changes in the text. In the view of companies, clear guidelines for increasing demand are lacking. The complaint is that the PL can become harmless if it is approved as it is.

Marcelo Mendonça, strategy director at Abegás, explains that the market will follow the development of demand. And the text in process would be ineffective on this point because it is redundant to confirm rules that already exist. Today, producers re-inject a large part of natural gas into the wells because they have no market. To change this, Mendonça defends the inclusion of some state policies in the PL.

The largest consumption of natural gas in the country is in the generation of energy and, currently, thermal plants are activated when necessary. Abegás defends that the plants enter the base of the electrical system, operating continuously. It would also be a guarantee for the system. In recent years, the share of wind and solar energy has increased, the generation of which varies according to the sunlight and the wind regime.The newer hydroelectric plants, without large dams, also have an uneven production, which depends on the flow of the rivers. Another suggestion for the PL is that thermal plants be built in the interior of the country, close to community centers. This would lead to investment in gas pipelines, infrastructure works that generate many jobs, and reduce the loss of energy in transmission. Today the plants are close to the coast, where natural gas arrives.

The Association tries to convince parliamentarians to popularize natural gas as fuel for heavy vehicles. This technology already exists in the country, but the vast majority of buses and trucks consume diesel. Brazil imports something like US $ 7 billion a year of this fuel, treated as a villain of air quality in big cities; natural gas pollutes less. According to Abegás' calculation, if the country converts all diesel consumption, the increase in demand for natural gas would be equivalent to the entire capacity of the Brazil-Bolivia Gas Pipeline, which today serves the Southeast and South of Brazil.

The New Gas Market was presented by the government as a path to economic growth because the potential for pre-salt production is really great and it needs to be disposed of. But the demand for fuel is lacking. Without commercial viability, producers today reinject the equivalent of three times the capacity of the Rota 3 gas pipeline, which Petrobras is building from the sea to Comperj, in Rio. Abegás has used an analogy to explain the situation: it is as if the country, with money and job problems, was keeping money under the mattress. The strategy does not solve the problems. And there is still a risk that the currency will change, because the world is looking for cleaner energy.