Petróleo Brasileiro SA’s 434,000-b/d Paulínia Refinery (REPLAN) refinery in Paulínia, São Paulo, has once again broken its record for monthly production of low-sulfur fuel oil (LSFO) that complies with the International Marine Organization’s (IMO) new regulations requiring ships to use marine fuels with a sulfur content below 0.5% (OGJ Online, June 25, 2020).
In June, REPLAN’s production of IMO 2020-compliant LSFO—or Bunker 2020—reached 148,000 cu m, which was 20% higher from the refinery’s previous production record of 123,000 cu m in May, Petrobras said on July 8.
During the first 5 months of 2020, REPLAN was responsible for 12% of all Bunker 2020 fuel produced by Petrobras refineries, the operator said.
REPLAN’s Bunker 2020 production is transported by pipeline to the Barueri onshore terminal, where it is stored to be sent via pipeline to the Porto de Santos in Santos, São Paulo, for loading to ships.
Bunker 2020 fuel produced by Petrobras’s refineries starting in 2019 complies with IMO’s Annex VI of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL Convention), which lowered the maximum sulfur content of marine fuel oil used in ocean-going vessels to 0.5% from 3.5% beginning Jan. 1, 2020.
Restart of units
Alongside announcing the June IMO 2020-compliant fuel production record, Petrobras also confirmed it resumed operations in June at one of REPLAN’s crude distillation units (U-200A) as well as at the refinery’s catalytic cracking unit (UU-220). Restart of the units restores the refinery—the largest in Petrobras’s refining system—to its full processing capacity, according to the operator.
