On December 30, 2021, President Jair Bolsonaro approved the launch of a program to encourage the exploration and production of oil in unconventional deposits, such as shale gas, which changed the energy scenario in the United States. The program aims to try to remove obstacles impeding the environmental licensing of the activity, which is accused of causing damage to communities surrounding exploration sites in some American regions and was banned by several Brazilian cities from the mid-2010s. Unconventional deposits are those found in rocks with low permeability, unlike pre-salt rocks, for example, whose pores ensure the displacement of oil and gas to the pipelines that take them to the platforms. In non-conventional ones, it is necessary to make fissures in the rock for the deposited material to move, in a process known as hydraulic fracturing, which injects large amounts of water underground at high pressures. In an order published on the 30th, Bolsonaro approved the CNPE’s resolution that proposes the reduction of the royalty rate charged on these deposits to 5% of the production value; in other oil fields in the country, a 10% royalty rate is generally charged.
Sources: Valor Econômico/Datamar News