Petrobras to invest $6 billion in downstream sector by 2010

Aug. 13, 2001
Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) plans to invest $6 billion in the downstream side of its businesses by 2010. It plans to increase output of refined products to 1.8 million b/d from 1.6 million currently. Brazil's daily consumption will be 2.1 million b/d by then, estimates Petrobras.


By the OGJ Online Staff

HOUSTON, Aug. 13 -- Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) plans to invest $6 billion in the downstream side of its businesses by 2010. It plans to increase output of refined products to 1.8 million b/d from 1.6 million currently.

Brazil's daily consumption will be 2.1 million b/d by then, estimates Petrobras.

The money will be spent on logistical and industrial operations and management oversight. Of the total amount, $4.7 million will be invested in the next 4 years, said Petrobras.

The company said that refinery improvements should ensure the quality of Brazilian refined products.

Petrobras plans to build diesel hydrotreater units at the 226,000-b/d Duque de Caxias refinery in Rio de Janeiro, the 151,000-b/d Gabriel Passos refinery in Minas Gerais, and the 189,000-b/d Presidente Vargas refinery in Parana. Those units will cost $530 million and begin operations by the end of 2003. They will provide low-sulfur diesel (0.05% maximum) to 14 Brazilian metropolitan areas.

Petrobras has spent $50 million on a 31,000-b/d atmospheric distillation unit at the 46,000-b/d Isaac Sabbá refinery at Manaus.

The company also said a 63,000-b/d residue catalytic cracking unit began operating in the first half of the year at the 306,000-b/d Landulpho Alves refinery at Bahia. It cost $350 million.

Petrobras also intends to invest in the education and training of workers "to prepare them to cope with the challenges of a fast-changing global market."

The company's human resource development program will offer masters and doctoral programs at universities like Harvard, Oxford, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the French Oil Institute, and others, said Petrobras.