Natural resources and energy
Uruguay's most important natural resources
are the large pastures and the fertile soil. The only
mineral deposits worth extracting are iron ore and some
gold. The energy demand is mainly covered by imported
crude oil and hydropower.
Mining is primarily concentrated on producing
building materials, such as sand, macadam, granite and
limestone. But a disputed law on large-scale mining was
adopted in 2013 with the aim of enabling the extraction
of large iron ore deposits found in Valentines in
central Uruguay.
-
COUNTRYAAH:
Major exports by Uruguay with a full list of the top products exported by the country. Includes trade value in U.S. dollars and the percentage for each product category.
The government supports the multinational mining
company Zamin Ferro's plans to invest in mining
operations. It would be the largest foreign direct
investment in Uruguay's history and the extraction would
make the country one of the world's largest iron ore
producers. However, the resistance is strong, critics
fear damage to the environment and say the profits will
not benefit the country.
Oil accounts for almost two-thirds of the total
energy demand. Hydropower is also important and
generates between just over half and up to 90 percent of
electricity. The variations are large from year to year
depending on how much it rains. An expansion of wind
power is ongoing and investments are also being made on
solar energy.
In recent years, hopes have also been raised that
there are natural gas sources that are large enough to
make extraction profitable. Uruguay has previously
imported natural gas from Argentina, but the neighboring
country's production has fallen so much that it has
instead become a net importer.
-
Abbreviationfinder: A popular acronym site in the world covering abbreviation for each country. For example, UY stands for Uruguay.
In 2013, a French company was given permission to
build a facility in Montevideo's port to convert liquid
natural gas from liquid to gas. In addition to domestic
consumption, the gas is planned to be used for export to
Argentina, through the pipelines previously used for
import.
FACTS - ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT
Energy use per person
1,378 kilograms of oil equivalent (2014)
Electricity consumption per person
3068 kilowatt hours, kWh (2014)
Carbon dioxide emissions in total
6 747 thousand tonnes (2014)
Carbon dioxide emissions per inhabitant
2.0 tonnes (2014)
The share of energy from renewable sources
58.0 percent (2015)
|
