theory is that oil-producing countries need not fear alcohol as a competitor, but rather regard it as a complementary fuel. In the case of Algeria, for instance, if the country would decide to mix ethanol into the gasoline sold in the domestic market, as Brazil does, then it would supposedly free more oil for exports, which would constitute an advantage, as the price of the commodity is sky-high.
Those guys have been selling oil for decades, now we need to teach them a new twist...
Brazil Shows Arabs How to Sell More Oil by Buying Brazilian Ethanol
Promoting ethanol on the international level has been an integral part of the Brazilian foreign policy. And it was no different during the two-day visit of foreign minister Celso Amorim to Algeria early this week. Even though Algeria is a large oil and gas producer and exporter, the Brazilian minister advertised the product to the high-level officials he met with.
The theory is that oil-producing countries need not fear alcohol as a competitor, but rather regard it as a complementary fuel. In the case of Algeria, for instance, if the country would decide to mix ethanol into the gasoline sold in the domestic market, as Brazil does, then it would supposedly free more oil for exports, which would constitute an advantage, as the price of the commodity is sky-high.
It is worth noting that the two countries already sustain some exchange agreements in the area of fuels. For some years now, Petrobras and its Algerian counterpart, Sonatrach, have been studying a partnership in the field of liquefied natural gas, a technology over which Algeria has full command.
If the Arabs will actually show interest in importing ethanol remains to be known, but the fact is that they are already seeking alternative energy sources in order to save more oil for exports.
The countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), for example, have announced heavy investment in the area, as theirs' is the region of the world where fossil fuel consumption grows the most. Petroleum consumption increases at an annual rate of 17% in the Gulf, as against a global average of 4.5%.
For the time being, they seek to use sources such as solar and wind power to supply their cities with electricity, but the logic is the same: the less petroleum and gas they use for themselves, the more one of their most precious export products will last. |
