Developing competition while building up the infrastructure of the Brazilian gas industry

For the last 20 years, countless countries have been carrying out structural reforms in the natural gas industry, trying to achieve efficiency and economic rationality with the introduction of competition. The objective of the paper is to present an approach to the development of competition and infrastructure of the Brazilian natural gas industry. This approach is based on a market projection to 2011, on the international experience and on the characteristics of the Brazilian market, infrastructure and regulatory framework. Possible impacts of the proposed measures are also provided. According to the market projection carried out in this paper, in 2011 there will be a possible surplus of natural gas in the country, which includes a dependence diminishing of the Bolivian gas supply. This gas surplus, allied to an upcoming Gas Law and the trade liberalization in the states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, can stimulate the development of competition, if some changes that proposed in this paper are made in the current Gas Bills. The approach proposed herein seeks to stimulate non-discriminatory open access, focused on information transparency and tariff regulation to help the development of infrastructure and competition.