Publications

Survey of Energy Resources 2007

Peat Country Notes

Brazil

The area of peatland has not been precisely established but it is believed to be at least 15 000 km², which makes it the largest in any South American country. There are extensive deposits in the Middle Amazon and in a large marshy plain (Pantanal) near the Bolivian border. Smaller areas of peatland exist in some coastal locations; those in the industrialised south-east of Brazil (in the states of Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo), and further north in Bahia state, have attracted interest as potential sites for the production of peat for energy purposes. The Irish peat authority Bord na Móna carried out preliminary surveys in Brazil in the early 1980s but no production of peat for fuel has yet been developed.

The total amount of peat in situ has been estimated as 25 billion tonnes. According to the Ministry of Mines and Energy, 'measured/indicated/inventoried resources' of peat amount to just over 129 million tonnes, with an 'inferred/estimated' additional amount of 358 million tonnes.