The 2020 pandemic has brought multiple cultural and behavioral changes to the world, creating significant impacts to the energy demand, whether quantitative or qualitative. With emphasis on the new form taken by labor relations, since remote work has been enabled by communication technologies developed over the last few decades, one may notice that the changes that are still unfolding as a result of this phenomenon are directly affecting urban mobility and, consequently, the use of public transportation, individual transportation, and movements of people and goods in general.

An important subset of the workforce, with working habits changed by the pandemic, will probably continue to work from home, at least during a significant portion of the week, as we may notice in a recent survey made by the BTA [1] consulting firm, which states that, due to the pandemic, the home office working model became the standard for at least 43% of Brazilian companies.

Other significant changes were noticed in the global energy landscape in 2020, driven by the enacting of the IMO 2020 standard on January 1st, 2020, issued by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a United Nations agency that, in an attempt to promote a cleaner maritime industry, has reduced the mandatory limit on maritime emissions of sulfur dioxide for ships around the world from 3.5% to 0.5%.

Besides, we have noticed multiple attempts to electrify vehicle fleets, as well as stimuli and subsidies to the growth of renewable sources in the global energy matrix.

Brazil, as a major developing power, has a relevant role in this scenario, since it has one of the greatest renewable energy matrixes in the planet, with 46.2% [2] renewable sources, compared to 14% of the share of renewable energy sources in the global energy matrix. We are trailblazers in the use and development of biofuels and our production (by September 2020) exceeded 126 [3] million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE), which corresponds to approximately 29% of the national consumption of fuels in the same period. Our offer of renewables grew 84,14% [4]

from 2000 to 2019, i.e. out of the 112.19% of total growth in energy demand in that period, 35.32% were supplied by a new offer of clean and renewable energy.

In addition to the entire landscape we described, the Brazilian Pre-salt layer, which concentrates most of the production and developing reserves on the coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro, is made up of oil with lower sulfur content, the so-called “sweet oil”, which is less acidic. This type of oil is produced mainly by the Lula and Búzios fields, in which, according to an article [5] published in November 2020 by the oilprice.com portal, up to 8.5% premium were received compared to the reference Brent price. These data ensure new and lofty investments for the subsequent operational expansion of the Brazilian Pre-salt hub. The Brazilian state-owned company Pré-Sal Petróleo S.A. (PPSA) disclosed on November 2020 that it expects investments to the tune of 122.7 billion dollars until 2030 in the fields located in the Pre-salt polygon.

Along with this positive scenario, we have huge reserves of natural gas associated with the valuable Pre-salt oil. Natural gas is considered an essential fuel to ensure the continuity of the expansion of renewable sources in the country, since a sufficient electric power generation capacity is mandatory on the basis of providing balance in renewable source variations, including wind power and sun power sources, among others.

In view of this amazing landscape, as well as the potential investments to the tune of billions of dollars, whether for O&G or for renewable sources, countless technological challenges appear with the mission of providing efficiency gains and economic and operational security to projects – and this represents an ocean of business opportunities with major global technologic hubs, such as Israel.

[1] Source – https://epocanegocios.globo.com/Empresa/noticia/2020/03/43-das-empresas-adotam-home-office-por-causa-do-coronavirus-mostra-pesquisa.html

[2] Source – Empresa de Pesquisa Energética (EPE) – https://www.epe.gov.br/pt/abcdenergia/matriz-energetica-e-eletrica

[3] Source – Agência Nacional do Petróleo, Gás Natural e Biocombustíveis (ANP) – http://www.anp.gov.br/dados-estatisticos

[4] Source – Empresa de Pesquisa Energética (EPE) – http://shinyepe.brazilsouth.cloudapp.azure.com:3838/ben/

[5] Source – https://oilprice.com/Energy/Oil-Prices/This-Could-Become-The-Worlds-Most-Expensive-Crude-Oil.html