Brazil's petroleum sector increasing its share of GDP

Brazil's oil and natural gas industry doubled its participation in the country's gross domestic product during the first 4 years since the end of Petroleo Brasilero SA's upstream monopoly.

June 6, 2002

By an OGJ correspondent

RIO DE JANEIRO, June 6 -- Brazil's oil and natural gas industry doubled its participation in the country's gross domestic product during the first 4 years since the end of Petroleo Brasilero SA's upstream monopoly—1997 to 2000—the National Petroleum Agency (ANP) reported.

Analyst Giovani Vitoria Machado outlined statistics in a report commissioned by ANP.
The petroleum sector represented 2.7% of Brazil's total GDP in 1997, 3.1% in 1998, 4.2% in 1999, and 5.4% in 2000.

In absolute terms, petroleum's contribution to Brazil's GDP at current values and basic prices (deducting ad valorem taxes) was 20.2 billion real in 1997, 26.3 billion real in 1998, 33.2 billion real in 1999, and 52.6 billion real in 2000, the report said.

The study attributed petroleum's rising stake in Brazil's GDP to a hike in international oil prices, increased domestic crude oil and natural gas production, and a new petroleum law regarding exploration and production activities.

Sebastião de Rego Barros, ANP's general-director, said that the increased participation of the petroleum sector in Brazil's GDP also stemmed from more oil companies operating in Brazil since 1999, when ANP's licensing rounds began.