Brazil restarts Gasbol Pipeline open-season amid pandemic-related concerns

Houston — An open season for capacity on Brazil's largest natural gas import pipeline -- the Bolivia-Brazil Gasbol -- was reinitiated recently by the National Petroleum Agency, or ANP, as regulators make a fourth attempt at a market opening that's likely to become the cornerstone of Brazil's New Gas Market reform.

The reinitiated process begins Aug. 21 with the publication of available capacity on offer. A brief call for expressions of interest is scheduled from Aug. 24 to Aug. 28, with a list of approved shippers to be published by month end. From Sept. 1 to Sept. 9, shippers are asked to submit bids for firm capacity. Final results of the open season will be published by mid-September with the startup of new service contracts beginning Oct. 1.

ANP's decision to reinitiate the open season, announced in the week ended Aug. 15, comes in response to concerns raised by potential shippers – many of which have faced difficulties in finalizing supply contracts in Bolivia amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The regulatory ruling completely restarts the third attempted open-season process that began in July and was previously scheduled to conclude by Aug. 13 with the startup of new service contracts by September.

During the second attempted open-season on Gasbol in March, the ANP released import capacity of 355 MMcf/d for bidding by third-party shippers, potentially signaling a likely volume to be offered this time.

The 1.1 Bcf/d Gasbol Pipeline can supply up to one-quarter of Brazil's marketed gas volume with access to the country's heavily industrialized southeast and southern states.

Open access to the pipeline could quickly transform the largely uncompetitive landscape of Brazil's onshore gas market. Until recently, state-owned Petrobras had monopolized the upstream and midstream markets and controlled large segments of Brazil's downstream distribution network.