The National Energy Policy Council (CNPE) approved this Thursday (30) a resolution that changes the rules for the commercialization of natural gas belonging to the Union and allows the direct sale of the product to the free market through auctions held by Pré-Sal Petróleo S.A. (PPSA). ? PPSA is a state-owned company linked to the Ministry of Mines and Energy responsible for marketing the Union's natural gas. The statement from the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) was released minutes before the start of the Restructuring of the Union's Natural Gas Marketing Policy event, held at the department's headquarters. “The law determined that PPSA has a legal obligation to maximize the Union’s oil and gas revenue,” stated minister Alexandre Silveira. The measure establishes two auction fronts: short-term, between 2026 and 2030, and long-term, from 2030. According to the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME), the objective is to increase the supply of gas in the Brazilian market and reduce the cost of the input, mainly for industry. The resolution amends a 2018 CNPE rule and establishes that the gas sold by the Union must be destined primarily to segments of the basic industry that make intensive use of the product. Among the sectors mentioned are the chemical, petrochemical, fertilizer and steel industries. The allocation must comply with the conditions established in the commercialization instruments and the interests of the National Energy Policy. According to the government, the reduction in input costs could also benefit other segments of the economy, such as thermoelectric generation and CNG transportation. What changes? In practice, the main change is the possibility for PPSA to place the Union's natural gas directly on the free market through auctions. With the resolution, the government intends to expand the product's supply on the market, with priority given to industrial segments that are intensive in the use of gas. The MME statement states that the Union's natural gas is currently sold by what the ministry calls the “dominant agent – ??Petrobras” in the Brazilian market for around US$12 per million BTU. According to the Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, with the new policy the product could reach the industry for approximately US$ 5 per million BTU, a reduction of more than 50%. The $5 value, however, is not a price set by resolution. This is a government estimate of the price that could be achieved with the changes. In 2023, the CNPE created a working group under the Gas to Employ program to study ways to expand supply, reduce the reinjection of gas into producing fields and improve the functioning of the market. According to the MME, the group sought to identify the participation of each link in the chain in the composition of the final price of gas — from production, through flow, processing and transportation, to distribution. Reports produced by the group pointed to the possibility of reducing the price from US$12 to around US$5 per million BTU. Government estimates R$ 95 billion in investments Studies by the Energy Research Company (EPE) cited by the ministry estimate that the resolution, together with measures underway by the ANP, could generate: 436 thousand jobs, between direct and indirect; R$95 billion in investments; R$79 billion increase in GDP; R$9.3 billion more in federal tax collection.