Contribution of natural gas for sustainable development in Portugal

Resumo

Portugal has strongly limited domestic energy resources, since imports almost 90% of its energy needs and its energy production is totally from renewable energy sources. The addition of natural gas to the Portuguese energy mix in 1997 helped to diversify Portugal’s energy sources and is a contribution to the mitigation of environmental problems. In 1997 also ceased the production and use of domestic coal. In fact, Portugal is working to reduce the growth in energy use and CO2 emissions, in order to follow the Kyoto Protocol. This measure can be linked to environmental sustainability policies, creating the opportunity for new business to appear. Natural gas, in some applications, can substitute the electricity, implying a decrease in price. Security of gas supply is an important issue, since Portugal depends mainly on a single supplier. This paper aims at analysing the emerging gas market, (threats and opportunities), its evolution andcomparison with other OECD countries.