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This excerpt taken from the PBR 20-F filed May 22, 2009. Petrochemicals
and Fertilizers
Our petrochemicals operations provide a growing market for the
crude oil and other hydrocarbons we produce, increase our value
added and provide domestic sources for products that would
otherwise be imported. We aim to expand our petrochemicals
operations in Brazil and elsewhere in South America and to
integrate these into our overall business.
Our strategies are to:
In the past, the Brazilian petrochemicals industry was
fragmented into a large number of small companies, many of which
were not internationally competitive and were therefore poor
customers for our petrochemical feedstocks.
In 2008, we participated in the consolidation and restructuring
of the Brazilian petrochemicals industry.
In June 2008, we combined our interests in Suzano
Petroquímica (Suzano), including our interest in Rio
Polímeros S.A. and Petroquímica União, with
certain petrochemical assets of União de Indústrias
Petroquímicas S.A. (Unipar) in a new company, Quattor
Participações (Quattor). Both we and Unipar increased
production of polyolefins and basic petrochemicals as a result
of this joint venture.
Also in 2008, Odebrecht S.A., Nordeste Química S.A. and
Braskem S.A. (Braskem) implemented a similar restructuring in
connection with the acquisition of Ipiranga Química’s
assets.
We and our partners combined our interests in certain
petrochemical companies at Braskem.
As a result of this restructuring, we hold minority stakes in
the two principal companies in the Brazilian petrochemical
industry, Quattor (40% of total capital, 40% of voting stock)
and Braskem (23.8% of total capital, 31% of voting stock).
Quattor and Braskem together
operate 27 petrochemical plants producing basic petrochemicals
and plastics, and related distribution and waste processing
operations. The table below shows the primary production
capacities of each of Quattor and Braskem as of
December 31, 2008.
Through our minority holdings in Brazil’s two new major
petrochemicals companies, we can better participate in planning
the industry’s future needs.
We have four new petrochemicals projects under construction or
in various stages of engineering or design:
our innovative proprietary Petrochemical FCC technology to
convert Brazilian heavy crude into basic and intermediate
petrochemicals, plastic resins, aromatics, coke, diesel oil and
naphtha. We are in the process of selecting strategic partners
and planning this project with a goal of starting up in 2012;
Table of Contents
acid plant to start up in 2010. PetroquímicaSuape was
originally a joint venture between Companhia Integrada
Têxtil do Nordeste—Citene and Petroquisa. In August
2008, Citene declared its intention to withdraw from this
partnership and Petroquisa subsequently acquired 100% of the
project. Construction began in 2008;
Our fertilizer plants in Bahia and Sergipe produce ammonia and
urea for the Brazilian market. In 2008, these plants sold a
combined 231,000 t of ammonia and 695,000 t of urea. We are
currently conducting feasibility studies for two additional
fertilizer facilities:
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