Petrobras invests to grow in ethanol and biodiesel in Brazil
Valor Econômico
Anchored in strong incentives for the production of the system called family agriculture, Petrobras Biocombustível has an aggressive strategy to buy stockholding in several ethanol plants and increase the partnership with biodiesel manufacturing industries. The Brazilian fully-owned company of the oil giant should holds a share of 15% to 20% of the ethanol market through the acquisition of up to 40% of the stocks of these companies. Besides that, Petrobras wants to assure the biodiesel leadership with 25% of the national production, says the Chairman of the Board of Administration of Petrobras Biocombustível and Minister of Rural Development, Guilherme Cassel. "We will buy good plants, guaranteeing the control of the technology and of the finances. Soon, we will be the biggest bioenergy company in the world".
In November, Petrobras purchased half of the stocks of the BSBios biodiesel plant located in Marialva (PR) for R$ 55 million (US$ 32 million). "In biodiesel, we go into it to be market leaders. And we will buy some companies", says Cassel. The investments in ethanol started with the purchase of 40.4% of the stocks of the Total plant, of Bambuí (MG), for R$ 150 million (US$ 87.2 million) last week. "We will have a relevant participation in this market, something between 15% and 20%", says the Minister. The option for the ethanol also seeks to "balance" the game with the strong interest of multinational groups of the sector and prevent the absolute control of the foreign capital in Brazilian plants. On Wednesday, the company announced an agreement with the State company Petrochina to study possible projects to jointly produce ethanol in Brazil and export it to China.
The subsidiary of Petrobras will also invest US$ 530 million in the research of biofuels over the next five years. The company has dominated the technological process of biodiesel from castor oil plant and it has research programs to suit the characteristics of the various raw materials to the technical requirements. "We can already run on 30% of castor oil plant in the biodiesel plants, produce well and get rid of bottlenecks", says Cassel.
The guidelines for Petrobras Biocombustível, headed by former-minister Miguel Rossetto, go through the certainty of the Government on the "relevant role" of the Brazilian rural sector in the international scenario of energy, production of foods and reduction of the effects of the global warming. "All major global discussions include Brazil", says Cassel. "All these issues are directly related to us. And we can give an answer encouraging the sustainable family agriculture".