July 23, 2019. Brazil’s Minister of Mines and Energy, Bento Albuquerque, said he wants to reduce diesel consumption in the country and stimulate the conversion of trucks to natural gas for vehicles (NGV), as a way to reduce the cost of cargo transportation in the country, while diesel thermal power plants will be replaced by others based on this gaseous fluid as their contracts expire.
Currently, around 10.6% of the natural gas sold in the country is supplied to vehicles, according to industry data. The natural gas fleet represents only 2.2% of the total in circulation, according to information from the National Transit Department.
“We will announce a plan to replace all diesel thermal plants,” Albuquerque said. According to the Minister, the basis of the plan lies in the withdrawal of Petrobras from the gas transportation and distribution market. The state company today concentrates 70% of the market.
