THE DAWN OF A NEW GAS ACT IN BRAZIL: INTERNATIONAL INSPIRATIONS ON GAS TRANSMISSION AND STORAGE

摘要

Almost a decade after the issuing of the Brazilian Gas Act, the Law 11909/2009, the country's natural gas sector is currently being restructured as a result of the decision made by the oil and gas company Petrobras to sell its gas transmission assets. As the state-owned and vertically integrated company possessed virtually all the gas infrastructure, the change ignited the debate on the need of a new legal gas framework to deal with the new market characteristics. The intention to bring competition and expand the gas infrastructure was another reason why the Brazilian government conducted a discussion on strategic guidelines for the design of a new gas market. These guidelines, which may result on a new Gas Act, focused mainly on transmission, storage and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) infrastructures. As they were clearly inspired by the international experience, this work surveyed the countries where these guidelines are rules already in force and predicted opportunities and challenges for Brazil. The results show that the entry-exit system for capacity contract in the transmission network is inspired by gas legal frameworks from European countries, such as France, Italy, Spain and other European Union Member States. Unbundling reinforcement and integrated management of the gas network are based both in European and North-American regulatory frameworks while the reviewing of storage rules for the development of this activity in Brazil follows the USA pattern, where it is subject to authorization. Finally, this work concludes that the main challenge for Brazil will be how to fully implement the entry-exit model as the transmission and distribution levels are completely separated. On the other hand, third-party access (TPA) to gas infrastructures might bring competitiveness, and less complex, but steadfast regulation, may stimulate - or at least not inhibit - new infrastructures.