FYI
---------------------- Forwarded by Brent Hendry/ENRON_DEVELOPMENT on 
28/02/2000 03:34 PM ---------------------------


Alexandre Bueno
28/02/2000 06:15 PM
To: Michael Guerriero/ENRON_DEVELOPMENT@ENRON_DEVELOPMENT, Pablo 
Acevedo/ENRON_DEVELOPMENT@ENRON_DEVELOPMENT, Bernardo 
Andrews/ENRON_DEVELOPMENT@ENRON_DEVELOPMENT, Diego 
Hollweck/ENRON_DEVELOPMENT@ENRON_DEVELOPMENT, John J 
Shoobridge/ENRON_DEVELOPMENT@ENRON_DEVELOPMENT, Gabriela 
Aguilar/ENRON_DEVELOPMENT@ENRON_DEVELOPMENT, Rodolfo 
Freyre/ENRON_DEVELOPMENT@ENRON_DEVELOPMENT, Julian 
Poole/ENRON_DEVELOPMENT@ENRON_DEVELOPMENT, Cristian 
Folgar/ENRON_DEVELOPMENT@ENRON_DEVELOPMENT, Brent 
Hendry/ENRON_DEVELOPMENT@ENRON_DEVELOPMENT, Andrea 
Calo/ENRON_DEVELOPMENT@ENRON_DEVELOPMENT, Marta 
Ortiz/ENRON_DEVELOPMENT@ENRON_DEVELOPMENT, Luis 
Juarros/ENRON_DEVELOPMENT@ENRON_DEVELOPMENT, Guillermo 
Canovas/ENRON_DEVELOPMENT@ENRON_DEVELOPMENT
cc:  
Subject: Clipping 02/28/2000

BRAZIL: BRAZILIAN NATURAL GAS TARIFFS
Gazeta Mercantil, 28 Feb 2000, p. a-6:-
 According to Cicero Ernesto Leite de Sousa, president of the Brazilian 
Association of Channelled Gas Distribution Companies (Abegas), Brazilian 
state government-owned gas distribution companies are negotiating tariffs of 
natural gas that is produced in Brazil with Gaspetro, a subsidiary of the 
Brazilian state-owned oil company Petrobras in charge of commercialising 
natural gas in whole Brazil.
Expectations are that these tariffs (for private consumers and companies) 
will be defined within 30 days.
These negotiations have been eased due to a interministerial decree 
republished on February 21st 2000 that establishes new rules for factors 
affecting these tariffs.
This decree contains methods to calculate fuel value to be transferred from 
gas distribution companies from April 1st 2000 and these methods in turn 
determines maximum gas tariffs, so distribution companies can negotiate 
cheaper tariffs with Gaspetro.


BRAZIL: ANGRA 2 OPERATES WITH LOWER TARIFF
O Estado de S.Paulo, 27 Feb 2000, p. b-9:-
 The tariff of the Brazilian nuclear power station of Angra 2, which will 
begin to operate in March 2000, will be equal to R$ 46/Mwh.
That price is 20% lower than the tariff of the hydro power station of Itaipu 
due to the transmission costs, but such competitive value is only possible 
because debts of R$ 8bn of the power station were incorporated by the 
Brazilian Treasury.


BRAZIL: NEW PRESIDENT OF COUNCIL OF CELPE
O Estado de S.Paulo, 26 Feb 2000, p. b-9:-
 Aloisio da Costa Val will be the president of the new council of the 
Brazilian electricity company Celpe, which is controlled by the consortium 
Guaraniana (composed by the companies Iberdrola, Previ and BB Invest). 


BRAZIL: PETROL PRICES INCREASES LIMITED TO 7%
O Estado de S.Paulo, 26 Feb 2000, p. b-9:-
 The Brazilian government will limit the petrol price increase by 7% as 
announced on February 25th 2000.
But some economists think the government may not be able to do that due to 
the problem with the Brazilian oil account and the need to compensate the 
increase in the international oil price.


BRAZIL: TERIS WILL BEGIN TO OPERATE
Folha de S.Paulo, 27 Feb 2000, p. 2-2:-
 The company Teris do Brasil will begin to operate in Brazil in March 2000 
aiming for the industrial effluents and residues management market (estimated 
at R$ 30bn yearly).
Teris is an association of the companies Rhodia, Vega and Teris (from 
France). 


BRAZIL: IBERDROLA%S POWER PLANTS
O Estado de S.Paulo, 26 Feb 2000, p. B-4:-
 The Spanish company Iberdrola recently began, in Brazil, the construction of 
one hydroelectric plant in the city of Itapebi (state of Bahia), one 
thermoelectric plant in the state of Rio Grande do Norte and other in the 
state of Pernambuco. The total investments in these plants will be of R$ 
1.3bn, and all them will have, together, generation capacity of 1,770MW.


BRAZIL: PLANS OF IBERDROLA 
Gazeta Mercantil, 28 Feb 2000, p. b-6:-
 The executive of the Spanish company Iberdrola for the Latin America, 
Esteban Serra Mont, informed the following plans and data about the 
operations of the company in Brazil:
- the subsidiary of the company in Brazil will focus in the Northeast region;
- the company's main interests in Brazil are electricity distribution, gas 
and sanitation;
- the company has already invested US$ 2.2bn in Brazil;
- the company does not plan to compete in the privatisation of Brazilian 
electricity generation companies, preferring to invest in new generation 
projects.


BRAZIL: PLANS OF IBERDROLA 
Gazeta Mercantil, 28 Feb 2000, p. b-6:-
 The executive of the Spanish company Iberdrola for the Latin America, 
Esteban Serra Mont, informed the following plans and data about the 
operations of the company in Brazil:
- the subsidiary of the company in Brazil will focus in the Northeast region;
- the company's main interests in Brazil are electricity distribution, gas 
and sanitation;
- the company has already invested US$ 2.2bn in Brazil;
- the company does not plan to compete in the privatisation of Brazilian 
electricity generation companies, preferring to invest in new generation 
projects.


BRAZIL: REPSOL AND IBERDROLA EXPAND BUSINESS
Expansion, 26 Feb 2000, p.4:-
 Spanish electricity operator Iberdrola will invest nearly US 710mn in order 
to build two thermal stations and a hydraulic station in Brazil.  Currently, 
the Spanish group controls Brazilian electricity distributors Celpe, Cosern 
and Coelba.
On the other hand Spanish oil operator Repsol YPF, jointly with UK-US oil 
giant BP Amoco, will allocate US $ 125mn to construct a 250 megawatt thermal 
station in Ceara (Brazil), which will start to operate in 2002.
Additionally, Repsol YPF and BP Amoco will strengthen their alliance in 
Trinidad & Tobago, where both companies will develop works of gas 
exploration.  The gas obtained would be destined to electricity stations of 
Brazil and Spain.


BRAZIL: REPSOL YPF TAKES PART IN STATION PROJECT
La Nacion (Argentina), 26 Feb 2000, p. 2/1:-
 With BP Amoco, Argentine-Spanish oil company Repsol YPF will construct a 250 
MW power station in the Brazilian state of Ceara. The plant will demand US$ 
125mn in investments.


ARGENTINA: OFFICIAL DEFENDS YACYRETA EXPANSION
La Nacion (Argentina), 26 Feb 2000, p. 2/7:-
 Nicolas Gallo, the Argentine Minister of Infrastructure, defended the 
Argentine government's project of expanding the hydropower station of 
Yacyreta, owned by the governments of Paraguay and Argentina through EBY. The 
project may allow Yacyreta to expand to 1,200 MW its output capacity, 
representing additional energy sales of US$ 200mn in an 8-10 year term. It 
will demand US$ 600mn in investments. Gallo insisted that Argentina can find 
investment banks to finance such works and it does not need the funds of the 
World Bank for such purpose. The multilateral entity had recently stated it 
may not finance such expansion. The project is being studied by US Parson 
Brinckeroff International.


BRAZIL: PETROBRAS WILL INVEST R$ 1BN
Gazeta Mercantil, 28 Feb 2000, p. A-8:-
 The Brazilian Petroleum Company (Petrobras) will invest the amount of R$ 
1.054bn in exploration and production of oil in the Brazilian states of Rio 
Grande do Norte and Ceara in 2000.
Rio Grande do Norte was the main state responsible for the increase of oil 
production in the country, which was of 8% in 1999. The state was responsible 
for more than 90% of this increase. In 1999, Rio Grande do Norte increased 
its production by 15.5% compared to 1998, or the volume of 540mn bopd.
Petrobras will also install a plant to produce kerosene for aircrafts. From 
the total investments, the company will invest R$ 990mn, while other 
partners, such as the American company Santa Fe, will be responsible for the 
rest. R$ 62mn will be invested for exploration and to find new oil fields, 
while R$ 260mn will be invested to increase the production in other fields.
Petrobras intends to increase its oil production in 2000 from 113,000bopd to 
120,000bopd. For the gas production, the company predicts an increase from 
3.2mn to 3.7mn of m3/day.


BRAZIL: RESULTS, CHANGES AND PLANS OF SHELL
Gazeta Mercantil, 28 Feb 2000, p. c-10:-
 These are some information about the English/Dutch oil company Shell in 
Brazil:
- the Brazilian subsidiary registered a loss of R$ 13mn in 1999 (profit of R$ 
17mn in 1998), mainly due to its fuels distributions operation;
- the company has been conducting a management and marketing restructure 
program for approximately 2 years;
- 285 petrol stations were sold to the Italian company Agip;
- its headquarters in the city of Rio de Janeiro were sold to the Brazilian 
long distance telephony company Intelig in the end of 1999;
- the company is beginning to use virtual offices with employees (salespeople 
at first) working at home or on streets;
- regional offices are being closed;
- the regional office of the city of Sao Paulo will be the only one operating 
by the end of 2000;
- the company reduced its personnel from 2,700 employees to 1,900 employees 
since the beginning of the restructure program;
- Shell will dismiss other employees;
- Shell is reducing the number of distribution bases (it had 50 bases, but 
this number will be reduced to between 25 and 30 in July 2000);
- fuels transfer and transport has been outsourced in December 1999, with 7 
transport companies doing the work which were done by two associated 
companies of Shell (Transgama and Setp);
- Shell will drill the 1st well in a block in the Basin of Campos in July 
2000;
- the company will invest up to US$ 140mn in the next 3 years with 
exploration and production.


BRAZIL: ALCOHOL STOCK WILL DECREASE
Gazeta Mercantil, 28 Feb 2000, p. b-24:-
 According to the Sugar Cane Agribusiness Union of the Brazilian state of Sao 
Paulo (Unica), the fuel alcohol stock of the Brazilian Mid-South region is 
expected to decrease from 2.85bn litres in the harvest 1998/1999 to 1.4bn 
litres in the harvest 1999/2000. The alcohol stock in the last harvests was 
too high since consumption by cars has been reduced.