Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s iconic coastal city, with a population of nearly 6.2 million people, is renowned for its breathtaking landscapes, iconic landmarks like the Christ the Redeemer statue, vibrant culture, and its world-famous Carnival celebrations. It is also a vital center for the energy sector, particularly oil and gas. With its strategic location and high-stakes operations, energy companies here face significant security challenges, from protecting high-value assets to ensuring executive safety in a city known for fluctuating crime rates. The Pinkerton Crime Index Brazil (PCI) offers a cutting-edge solution, providing accurate and timely crime data to help energy firms mitigate risks and maintain operational continuity.
Rio de Janeiro: An Energy Hub
Brazil is the top oil producer in Latin America, with huge ultra-deep oil reserves. As a major energy hub for oil and gas production, primarily due to the offshore Campos and Santos Basins, the state of Rio de Janeiro is a powerhouse in Brazil’s oil and gas production, responsible for approximately 80% of the country's oil and 76% of its natural gas output. Almost all (97.6%) of its oil is produced offshore.
Production level rivals that of other major oil-producing countries. In 2022, Brazil produced an average of 3.02 million barrels of oil per day, which is 2.47% more than the previous record in 2020. That year, they produced a total of 1.1 billion barrels of oil and 50.3 billion cubic meters of natural gas, according to the Brazilian National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP).
Oil and gas production contribute over 10% to Brazil’s total GDP. It supplies crude oil, natural gas, and refined products to domestic and global markets, including North America, Europe, and Asia, according to the ANP.
With over 50 major energy companies, including numerous international firms, operating in the region, Rio’s offshore oil fields are among the most productive in the world. However, the high value of assets and the city’s crime dynamics pose ongoing security concerns for industry leaders.
Security Challenges for Energy Sector Employees and Visitors
Navigating the energy sector in Rio de Janeiro comes with the inherently high risks of the city.
“The crime patterns in Brazil are shifting,” Paulo noted, emphasizing how tools like PCI capture emerging threats that can elude traditional security perspectives.
Rio de Janeiro's Total Crime Index risk scores range from 0.69x to 2.16x, or 0.69 to 2.16 times the national average. The region has experienced a 25% reduction in crime over the last five years, maintaining a consistent risk level over the past year.
“Crime is complex here,” said Paulo. “PCI is not based on perception or newspaper headlines. It's based on monthly updates and regional crime data analysis in Brazil.”
In addition to identifying the total crime risk in Brazil, PCI identifies the risk of violent and property crimes, which are assigned a severity weight based on prison sentence length and victim expenses (property damage, healthcare, judicial fees). More serious crimes contribute more to the crime risk score.
For energy companies, anticipating these patterns is essential to safeguarding both assets and personnel. The sector employs tens of thousands in Brazil and draws in a global workforce of specialized experts, including engineers whose families reside in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Helping employees and corporate travelers is crucial, particularly in terms of where they live and the routes they take for daily activities like commuting to work or taking kids to school, hinging on their presence in areas with lower crime rates.
With its distinctive geography, Rio distinguishes itself from more sprawling cities like São Paulo, where high-crime areas are buffered by low-crime tourist zones. Instead, in Rio, the boundaries between good and bad areas blur, often intertwining.
"Rio is very unique because of its geography," explained Paulo Gregoire, Pinkerton Director in Brazil. "It's not the kind of city that's very spread out, like São Paulo.”
The proximity of the ocean and mountain regions means that some high-risk areas are nestled right within the mountains, creating a complex urban landscape where good and bad areas are just a few blocks apart. This proximity can lead travelers into trouble if they're not cautious.
In such a condensed environment, relying solely on GPS or mapping applications can prove dangerous. Paulo noted how visitors might find themselves directed into precarious neighborhoods, as the fastest route often isn't the safest.
"You have situations where foreigners try to take a shortcut because that’s what their GPS is telling them. They drive right into a bad area," he added.
Staying informed and adopting comprehensive safety measures remain critical for navigating the complex urban landscape.
The Power of Crime Analytics for Business
This is where Pinkerton Crime Index (PCI) comes into its own as a critical tool with a unique advantage: monthly updated, data-driven insights into crime trends. PCI offers a truly granular analysis of crime, measured down to the street level. This precision allows clients to get a clear picture of where it's safer and where it’s less safe, sometimes within the span of just two or three blocks. Such detailed knowledge is indispensable for secure route planning for business travelers and new residents, enabling them to avoid certain streets where trouble is more likely to arise, assuring a greater level of personal safety.
Pinkerton Global Risk Advisory
For energy sector executives in Rio de Janeiro — whether based locally or managing foreign operations — security is a top priority in sustaining operations, protecting investments, and safeguarding people. PCI delivers the precise crime risk intelligence needed to navigate Rio’s complex risk landscape. As Paulo highlighted, PCI’s ability to track and quantify crime trends offers unparalleled support for decision-making.
Ready to secure your operations with data-driven confidence? Reach out to Pinkerton to discover how PCI can empower your business
