Rio, October 2, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The secretary of Energy, Shipbuilding, and Petroleum of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Wagner Victer, affirmed today that the Plan to Generalize the Use of Natural Gas, launched by Petrobras, will only arouse the interest of entrepreneurs and consumers, if the government alters the pricing policy for gas imported from Bolivia and unpegs sales of the product in Brazil from the dollar. According to him, the use of natural gas as a fuel by industrial, commercial, and service sectors is viewed as a risky business and has only attracted 3-4% of the Brazilian market.

"The potential market for natural gas in the country is very large, but people will only become interested in using the product as an energy source, if they are assured of cheaper prices and, also, that the government will support domestic manufacturers of equipment that is currently imported," Victer added, recalling that Rio de Janeiro is the state that most consumes natural gas, which corresponds to 15% of the state's energy matrix.

On Tuesday (1), the secretary took part in the VI International Seminar on Distributed Generation, sponsored by the National Institute of Energy Efficiency (INEE). (DAS)