Brazil Fuel Demand Threatens Oil Self-Sufficiency, Estado Says

By Laura Price
July 6 (Bloomberg) -- Brazil's growing demand for fuel may threaten the country's ability to be self-sufficient in meeting its oil needs, O Estado de S. Paulo reported.
In the first four months of the year, the South American country bought 22.5 million more barrels of oil than it sold, leading to an average deficit of 185,000 barrels a day, compared to a surplus of 13,000 barrels a day in 2007 and 57,000 barrels a day in 2006, Estado said. While Brazil has never stopped buying light oil, the current pace of imports may lead it to end the year with a deficit, the newspaper said.
Fuel demand has grown 5.8 percent in the past year, more than double the 2.4 percent estimated by Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil's state-controlled oil company, Estado said, citing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Mauricio Tolmasquim, head of the state energy-research agency, blamed the below-target production figures on a delay in construction of some of Petrobras's new oil platforms, Estado said. Brazil is at a threshold between supply and demand and may end the year with a small deficit or a small surplus, Tolmasquim told the newspaper.