Brazilian Group Visits Western Pa. To See Shale Gas Industry

Marie Cusick

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Marie Cusick was the Harrisburg reporter for StateImpact Pennsylvania.

July 25, 2013 | 11:45 AM

For the third time in as many months, a delegation from South America is visiting Pennsylvania to see the state’s shale gas industry.
From the Associated Press:

The group of Brazilian business and energy industry professionals hopes to learn from the state’s experience and to explore the possibility of exports to Brazil during meetings Wednesday and Thursday.
Celia Feldpausch, executive director of the Brazil Industries Coalition, said Wednesday the national oil company plans to hold auctions for drilling rights later this year, but shale gas drilling is a new issue for Brazil and “we want to make sure to protect the environment.”
“We’re trying to learn as much as we can,” said Feldpausch, whose Washington-based coalition represents Brazil’s private sector.
The group is meeting with Pennsylvania regulators and drilling companies and touring a drilling site in western Pennsylvania. The visit follows two days of meetings in Washington.

As StateImpact Pennsylvania reported earlier this month, a group of Chilean energy executives visited Pennsylvania and celebrated the opening of a new Chilean consulate in Philadelphia:

Gov. Corbett told the crowd of energy executives from both the U.S. and Chile that he’s all for exporting the state’s natural gas to the developing nation.
“As Chile’s manufacturing sector grows, she is clearly going to need energy,” said Corbett. “Well we have a little bit of it here in Pennsylvania, we have it in abundance and we’re blessed by that.”

In May, another group of Brazilians visited drilling sites in Washington County.
The trips come on the heels of Governor Corbett’s recent trade mission to Brazil and Chile.
As part of the trip, Corbett signed a joint declaration with the governor of the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro to promote collaboration and investments in energy, particularly in oil and natural gas development.
As Pennsylvania and other parts of the country experience a boom in the production of shale gas, there is increasing pressure to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) abroad.