Brazilian investments in the project of the Rio de Janeiro Petrochemical Complex (Comperj), in southeastern Brazil, may jump from the US$ 6.5 billion, announced in June by the state-controlled oil company Petrobras, to about US$ 8.5 billion.
This should happen because some 200 transformation industries of third generation are being aggregated to the refinery, responsible for the production of petrochemicals for the plastic utensils industry.
The information was supplied by José Lima de Andrade Neto, president of Petroquisa, a Petrobras subsidiary for the petrochemical sector.
The project for the complex is the result of a partnership between Petrobras, the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) and the Ultra group. In the initial investment a central petrochemical plant and the second generation units are foreseen, which will be built in the same area.
The president of Petroquisa admitted that the undertaking may have other partners.
"There are obviously groups interested in participating and we are studying this possibility. There are groups that may participate both in specific areas and in the whole project. There is a term of trust in the negotiations and I cannot give greater details yet."
The complex will have the capacity of processing 150,000 barrels per day of heavy oil coming from the Campos Basin and produce petrochemical raw material and other products.
In it, Petrobras and its partners will implement the Basic Petrochemical Unit, a first generation petrochemical center, with total investment estimated at US$ 3.5 billion, destined to production, amongst other things, of ethylene, propylene, benzene and parylene.
By using heavy oil as an input to generate petrochemical products, substituting naphtha which is still, in great part, imported, the estimate is that the country should save more than US$ 2 billion per year.