Petrobras plans to raise investments in petrochemicals for period 2008-12

11-Dec-08

Petrobras- Brazilian federal energy company is likely to increase investments in petrochemicals in the period of four years from 2008-12. Of the total planned investment, 85% is for domestic projects. Earlier, an investment of US$8.6 bln was announced by the company for this sector in the five-year period. Petrobras remains on schedule for the construction of the Rio de Janeiro Comperj petrochemical complex, which is expected to start operations in 2012. The complex will have one basic petrochemical unit with capacity to process 150,000 bpd and eight resin production units. The company will produce 850,000 tpa of polypropylene (PP), 800,000 tpa of polyethylene (PE), 600,000 tpa of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), 600,000 tpa of ethylene glycol, 500,000 tpa of purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and 500,000 tpa of styrene. Petrobras could not guarantee a boost in production of the recently discovered naphtha derived from a pre-salt layer, as it presents some challenges to the company such as the production process, logistics and technology.