The surge of investments in Brazilian biomethane ahead of a 1pc blend mandate in 2026 has led a number of energy trading and distribution companies to expand operations around the renewable gas.
Brazilian sugarcane producer Copersucar — which is also a leading global sugar and ethanol trading company — has ambitious biomethane trading targets. Over the next decade, the company is working to boost biomethane production at its 38 associated mills by up to 4mn m³/d.
Biomethane prices are competitive with the fossil-fuel equivalent and the fuel can be used in industry, transport, energy and to make fertilizers, Copersucar said.
The company plans to follow the same model with biomethane that it adopted with sugar and ethanol, according to Copersucar president Tomas Manzano. "The mills will produce the fuel and we will sell and distribute it," he said. The company is also setting up a biomethane trading desk.
Other companies are also eyeing biomethane trading, including energy distribution company Energisa, which plans to begin selling the fuel to third parties later this year from production in Santa Catarina state.
Similarly, Brazilian gas trading firm Edge is seeking to make headway into biomethane trading. Last year, Edge signed a 10-year agreement with biomethane company BioE for a minimum of 25,000 m³/d starting in the second half of 2026. The fuel will come from a landfill in Itapevi, in Sao Paulo state. The contract will have both fixed and variable elements, with the fixed price linked to inflation and the variable related to performance metrics stipulated in the contract. Edge said last month it is focusing on expanding its biomethane trading operations this year.
Fuel distribution company Ultra is also seeking to expand in this segment. The company acquired small-scale natural gas distributor NEOgas in 2022 and has been leveraging its expertise in the small-scale distribution market to expand into biomethane sales and trading.
While this market is still relatively small, biomethane production is expected to continue rising as the blend mandate increases.
Overall, the country has the potential to produce up to 120mn m³/d of the fuel, according to biomethane producers' association Abiogas.
