Petrobras will use gas from the pre-salt in the new petrochemical complex

Source: Agência Brasil

Petrobras (Bovespa: PETR3/PETR4, NYSE: PBR / PBRA, Latibex: XPBR / XPBRA, BCBA: APBR / APBRA) will use natural gas from the pre-salt fields as fuel and feedstock in the new petrochemical complex in Rio de Janeiro (Comperj), which is being builtin in Itaboraí, the metropolitan region of Rio. According to Petrobras' Downstream Director, Paulo Roberto Costa, the gas will be taken, probably by sub-sea pipelines, to Comperj, which will have 250 to 300 kilometers (km) long.


The route of the pipeline is still being studied. Another possibility to bring the gas to Comperj is the use of gas vessels to liquefy natural gas in the sea and transport it to a regasification terminal on land.

According to Costa, is expected to use 15 million cubic meters of natural gas daily from pre-salt as a feedstock in Comperj petrochemical plant, where will be transformed into products such as propylene, butadiene,benzene, polyethylene and polypropylene. The remaining gas will be used as fuel in the Petrochemical Complex, whichwill also include two refineries.

The expectation is that the first refinery goes into operation in late 2013. The petrochemical plant should start operating between late 2016 and early 2017 and will be attended by Braskem (SAO: BRKM5, NYSE: BAK, SAO: BRKM6 - BRMKM3, Pink: BAKBF, FRA: BRDA, ETR: BRDA, FRA: BRD, ETR: BRD), in which Petrobras is a shareholder. A second refinery should only come intooperation in 2018.

Each refinery will have capacity to process 165,000 barrels of oil per day, when operating at full capacity, transforming crude oil into products like diesel and jet fuel.