Brazil’s Road to Energy Independence

Record oil prices have made the world’s energy landscape a darkly foreboding place this year, inhospitable to optimism and celebration. Except in Brazil.

It has been something of a banner year here, full of milestones. The government predicts that for the first time in its history, Brazil will achieve energy equilibrium, exporting as much oil as it imports. The production of sugar cane-based ethanol is expected to reach an all-time high. And just three years after the introduction here of flex-fuel vehicles — cars that run on either ethanol or gasoline — several major automakers predict that such vehicles will represent 100 percent of their production by the end of the year, eliminating gas-only models.

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