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Brazil's Petrobras - Petróleo Brasileiro - the country's state-run oil giant, reports that between now and the year 2010 it will invest US$ 2.85 billion in pipeline transport of natural gas in Brazil.
According to Ildo Sauer, director of Gas and Energy, the funds will ensure the linkage of pipelines in the Southeast and Northeast regions.
Speaking at the Rio Gas & Oil Seminar, Sauer went on to say that Petrobras is working with estimated GDP growth of 4.5% annually and a 14% increase in demand for natural gas over the next seven years.
As for total sector investments, the president of the Brazilian Petroleum and Gas Institute (IBP), João Carlos de Luca, also speaking at the seminar, reported that they should reach between US$ 8 billion and US$ 9 billion, during the same period.
De Luca pointed out that that amount is nothing less than three times the petroleum sector investments during the 1990s.
And he added that although Petrobras continues to lead the sector, other companies are investing as well, boosting the development of domestic petroleum and gas production and distribution.
De Luca concluded by saying that government policy has also been an important stimulus for the sector, especially tax exemptions on needed imports in the program known as Repetro.
The executive manager of Exploration and Production at the Petrobras, Francisco Nepomuceno, said that the Brazilian oil company will continue to increase production until the end of 2005, when production should reach 1.85 million barrels per day.
And in 2006, with a further increase to 2.2 million barrels per day, Brazil will be self-sufficient.
Nepomuceno also said that with the arrival of the P-43 platform in December in the Barracuda-Caratinga field in Campos, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, there will be a spike in production.
"We have the infrastructure to handle 1.85 million barrels per day by the end of next year," he declared.
This year production is running at an average 1.56 million barrels per day, but should rise to 1.64 million barrels per day by December.
Agência Brasil
Translator: Allen Bennett
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