In the first half of 2008, when the international oil price hit record highs, the oil price in Brazil basically remained at R $2.7 per liter (about US$ 65,438+0.65,438+07 per liter at the current exchange rate), which was almost the same as the current price. Brazil's oil price can stand firm in the international market turmoil, which has a lot to do with Brazil's long-term vigorous development of bioenergy. At present, more than half of the cars in Brazil use cheap ethanol fuel.
Brazil is rich in sugar cane. As early as 30 years ago, it began to develop ethanol fuel as a substitute for oil. Today, Brazil's biofuel technology ranks among the best in the world, and it is an important biofuel user and exporter in the world. According to statistics, due to the use of biodiesel, Brazil imported less 1 1 100 million liters of petroleum products last year, which is equivalent to saving the country 976 million US dollars.
Brazil's bioenergy industry can achieve today's achievements thanks to successive Brazilian governments. More than 40 years ago, Brazil was a country heavily dependent on imported oil, and 90% of its oil consumption needed to be imported. In order to reduce the dependence on imported oil, 1975, the Brazilian government started the ethanol development plan by administrative order.
This plan first benefited from Brazil's favorable natural environment. Brazil has a land area of 85 1 10,000 square kilometers. Besides mountains and deserts, there are about 654,380+billion hectares of undeveloped land, so it is possible to expand the cultivation of energy crops while ensuring grain production. Most parts of Brazil are suitable for planting oil crops, such as soybean, oil palm, peanut, castor and sunflower. The Amazon alone has 50 million hectares of land suitable for planting oil palm, which can completely form the scale of energy industry.