Brazilian steel producer CSN has signed a contract with Petrobras, Brazil’s state-owned oil giant, to supply natural gas to its Rio de Janeiro plant. This agreement marks CSN’s transition to the free natural gas market, with Petrobras as its primary supplier among other sources.
The partnership aims to foster a long-term relationship and support both companies’ decarbonization goals. “Petrobras and CSN are embarking on their first business venture in the free natural gas market, focusing on developing solutions for a competitive, transparent, and sustainable trading environment,” said Mauricio Tolmasquim, Petrobras’s Energy Transition and Sustainability Director.
As part of this agreement, Petrobras and CSN will work on optimizing natural gas use across various processes to meet their energy transition targets. The contract includes migrating the President Vargas Power Plant in Volta Redonda to the natural gas free market.
“With this transition, CSN becomes Brazil’s leading industrial consumer of natural gas in the free market, contracting both the gas supply and transportation. This strategy is aimed at reducing costs and enhancing the company’s value,” stated Rogerio Pizeta, CSN’s Energy Director.
CSN (Companhia Siderurgica Nacional) is the largest fully integrated steel producer in Brazil and one of the largest in Latin America in terms of crude steel production, with an annual capacity of 5.8 mln tons.
