Flurona expected to gain ground in Brazil, cruise season under threat, airlines gradually increase flights

O que é "flurona", infecção por covid-19 e gripe | Band

The number of cases of double infection by Covid-19 and influenza, called Flurona or twindemic by some doctors, tends to increase in Brazil in the coming weeks, researchers warn. Specialists, however, affirm that this is not an unprecedented or unexpected fact — especially because it involves the influenza virus.

“There are several viral coinfections that start in the nose, especially when influenza is present,” said biologist Beatriz Carniel, PhD from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine with a thesis on the disease. The novelty, say the researchers, is the scale that the phenomenon may gain in the future, due to the combination of the Covid-19 pandemic, fed by the omicron variant, with the outbreaks of influenza out of season (summer in Brazil).

In the state of São Paulo, 110 cases have been detected in 2021, according to the Secretary of Health, including 59 in the capital. In Rio de Janeiro city, there are 17 cases under investigation of coinfection.

Cruises season may be terminated, association says

The president of Clia Brasil (the entity that represents cruise ships in the country), Marco Ferraz, admitted that Covid-19 may lead to the termination of the season. “If we reach a favorable condition for resumption of cruises, we will return on the 21st,” Mr. Ferraz said. “Otherwise, we will end the season.”

The industry announced on Monday the voluntary suspension of the current cruise season. It then extended talks with authorities at all levels in order to explain the current scenario and try to succeed in the reopening scheduled for the 21st.

The health authority Anvisa confirmed 829 cases of Covid-19 among crew and passengers from November 1 to January 3 on the five ships operating in the country — three from MSC and two from Costa. The cases account for less than 1% of the total number of travelers so far in the current season, of about 130,000.

Airlines operate 85% of pre-pandemic network, association says

In December, airlines operating in Brazil reported an average of 2,036 daily departures, or 84.7% of the domestic network of March 2020, when the daily average was 2,400 departures. At the time, the Covid-19 pandemic had not yet affected the sector.

The numbers were released by the Brazilian Association of Airlines (Abear) based on data by the National Agency of Civil Aviation (ANAC). According to Abear, December’s result is the best in 21 months, since April 2020, when the daily offer of flights shrank to 6.8%, or just 163 flights a day.

XP buys minority stake in Suno

XP Inc. agreed to buy a minority stake in the Suno group, which brings together the areas of investment research, resource management, as well as content production, data and financial market analysis.

Since July 2021, this is XP’s fourth acquisition of companies born under the umbrella of independent review. It acquired OHM Research and Levante Investimentos and already had Spiti – absorbed in December by the Primo Group, of which XP is also a partner.

Source: Valor international

https://valorinternational.globo.com/

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Petrobras expects to produce 20bn barrels by 2030 in efficiency drive

Petrobras intends to enable the production of up to 20 billion barrels of oil equivalent in the main fields operated by the company by 2030, through a program aimed at increasing the recovery factor of the deposits. Named RES20, the effort was created by the company with a focus on incorporating new reserves into assets already in the operational phase.

The 20 billion barrels include not only Petrobras’s share, but also the volumes of Petrobras’s partners in the fields operated by the company. The figure, however, is nonetheless expressive. For comparison purposes, the company has produced 23 billion barrels over nearly seven decades of history.

The recovery factor indicates the percentage of the volume originally contained in a reservoir — the volume “in place” — that has already been extracted. In Brazil, these rates are historically low, in relation to what is seen, for example, in the North Sea, in Europe. According to the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP), in the Campos Basin, where the main mature fields in the country are located, the recovered oil fraction is 15.8%.

In the case of mature fields, increasing the recovery factor means ensuring the extension of the asset’s useful life. Not all volume “in place” is economically recoverable, but by investing in the growth of the recovered fraction, the company is able to add more reserves to its portfolio — that is, more commercially viable volumes.

In a note, Petrobras highlighted that the RES20 will work with more well-defined and detailed deposit models. The company’s 2022-2026 business plan foresees investments of $2.5 billion in high-resolution seismic acquisitions for this purpose.

Among the assets expected to receive investments to increase the recovery factor are Roncador, in the Campos Basin post-salt, and Tupi, in the Santos Basin pre-salt.

Source: Valor international

https://valorinternational.globo.com/

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Rise of renewable power may create bottlenecks

Substantial growth in renewable energy generation in Brazil’s North and Northeast, mainly from solar and wind sources, may create bottlenecks in the flow of energy to other regions. The mismatch between the new generation and transmission projects going online reveals how outlining plans for the electricity sector is increasingly complex amid the energy transition drive and the search for greener sources.

Brazil’s national grid operator ONS says that the great challenge to make feasible the use of all the potential of the Northeast region is the mismatch between the deadlines of the generation and transmission projects. While setting up transmission lines usually takes seven years, solar and wind farms need only two years.

The lack of synchrony between new transmission and generation projects may lead to a surplus of power of 5.5 GW in the North and Northeast until 2026, the ONS warned in the medium-term plan of the electrical operation of the National Interconnected System (SIN) released this week.

Luiz Barroso, CEO of the consultancy PSR and a former head of the Energy Research Company (EPE), said that the issue reflects the changes that the sector has undergone in recent years. Transmission projects used to come into operation faster than the hydroelectric and thermoelectric generation plants. Now that renewable power grabbed an increasing share in the generation mix, the opposite is true.

“Today, it is necessary to plan the transmission with greater uncertainty about generation. The interface between the projects has become more complex, due to the uncertainty in the location of the new plants and the greater speed in implementing the projects, as well as the difficulties to get environmental permits for transmission projects,” he said.

For him, the scenario will require more proactivity from the planning bodies to point out the transmission projects that will be auctioned in the next few years, as well as an effective action from the Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency (ANEEL) to guarantee the entry into operation within the deadlines.

According to Mr. Barroso, there is already an effort underway at EPE to improve the planning methodologies, considering the greater complexity of the sector. He recalled that Brazil is one of the most attractive countries for investments in this segment. Data from ANEEL indicate that the transmission projects auctioned between 1999 and 2021 total R$275.2 billion in investments, with values updated for inflation.

“It is important not only to build the transmission infrastructure but to build it in the right places, where the lines add value. The lack of transmission can prevent the development of renewable projects in areas that could have value for the system,” Mr. Barroso said.

Source: Valor international

https://valorinternational.globo.com/

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