Petrobras invests US$ 485.7 million to produce more propene
DCI - 04/28/2008
To meet the raw material consumption of the recently inaugurated Petrochemical Plant of Paulínia - a joint venture between Braskem and Petroquisa (Petrobrás' petrochemical branch), Petrobrás will invest R$ 850 million (US$ 485.7 million) to increase the propene productive capacity of its refineries. The input will be used to replace nafta, the most common derivative to obtain etene (main raw material of the petrochemical sector) to produce the plastic polypropylene resin (PP). According to Petrobrás' Supply Director Paulo Robero Costa, the allocation will be directed for the construction of two new propene units in the Paulínia (Replan) and São José dos Campos (Revap) Refineries. With the high prices of oil and nafta, Braskem foresees using 50% of alternative sources in its total consumption of raw materials in the next years, thus reducing production costs. After Copesul's incorporation last year, the company became the biggest nafta purchaser in the global market, with 8 million tons per year. From that volume, around 70% is bought from Petrobrás - with a too high price of oil barrel: the ton of nafta reached record levels last week, around US$ 890. With the Paulínia complex, Braskem, Latin America's biggest petrochemical company starts adopting innovations that will reduce the company costs in the production of resins. The new plant, which cost around R$ 700 million (US$ 400 million), represents an expansion of 350 thousand tons in the company's polypropylene (PP) productive capacity. It is the country's biggest plant of this kind. The forecast is that Paulínia plant will produce 180 thousand tons of propylene in this first year of operations. Accordingo to Braskem's president José Carlos Grubisich, Paulínia's proximity with Petrobrás' refineries will bring large scale dynamism and competitivity. « In addition to cheaper raw materials, the Paulínia plant has up-to-date technology, world scale, and proximity with the country's main consumer market », affirmed Grubisich. The plant is an example of partnership and profile transformation and of the characteristic of the national petrochemical industry, with large groups (Braskem and Unipar) ahead of it ».