Company sold by Petrobras in 2017 is preparing to stop having only Petrobras as a customer with the opening of the gas market promoted by the federal government

The president of Nova Transportadora do Sudeste (NTS), Wong Loon, declared last Tuesday (30/07), that the company expects to invest 900 million reais over the next five years due to the implementation of the new gas market in the country.
The company is preparing for the future expansion of the network and attracting new customers in addition to Petrobras, today NTS is responsible for a network of more than 2000 km of gas pipelines that connect the states of Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and São Paulo ( responsible for 50% of gas consumption in Brazil) to the Brazil-Bolivia gas pipeline, LNG terminals and gas processing plants.

The NTS pipelines connect the most industrialized region in Brazil and distribute 158,2 million m³ of gas per day and its control was sold by Petrobras, for more than 5 billion dollars, to Brookfield, in April 2017.

The Brazilian oil company remains the only client of the pipeline and according to Wong Loon, this is not ideal for the company. “Today we have a 'single client' and we have to work with multiclients. It seems like a simple thing, but even the software is not prepared for that”, declared the president.

Even so, NTS has already invested 180 million reais, primarily in safety and measurement issues, according to the executive, but other investments, such as in the gas pipeline network, he stated that there are no plans, at least until the demand exists , which he believes will happen by 2023.

The Government's plans

According to the government's plans, there is a forecast for Petrobras to completely exit the transport and distribution sectors and for the entry of new private investments.

The president of NTS also declared that the company's partners want to buy the 10% of the shares that are still held by Petrobras, which has already signaled about the sale, but talks have not yet started.

It is worth remembering that TAG (Transportadora Associada de Gás) was sold by Petrobras to a group led by the French Engie for 33,5 billion reais.
TAG, like NTS, also wants to invest in the expansion of the pipeline network, but is also waiting for the market to open up, as it has the same concern as NTS because the companies have only one customer.