MOSCOW (MRC) -- Petrobras and China’s CNPC have ended talks on the possibility of building a refinery at Comperj in Itaborai (RJ) after concluding that the project would not be economically viable, reported Brazil Energy Isight with reference to Petrobras president Roberto Castello Branco's statement on Wednesday.
The executive stressed that it “makes no sense” strategically for the company to invest in a new refinery, since the oil company is selling refining capacity in several states and already has a refinery in the state of Rio de Janeiro, which will be maintained.
"(Studies with CNPC) showed us that it is not economically viable … CNPC was not very interested in this project," said Castello Branco, during a New Year’s Eve breakfast with the press at the company’s headquarters. , in Rio de Janeiro.
Construction of a refinery at Comperj was suspended after investigations by Lava Jato, which pointed to fraud involving project contracts.
Some of the equipment already in the project will eventually be used to build a lubricant unit on site, whose project is being prepared.
As MRC wrote previously, the chief executive of Brazilian state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro said last Friday he wants to sell the company's stake in petrochemical company Braskem within 12 months, adding that he strongly disagreed with reported plans to delay the sale.
We also remind that Braskem is no longer pursuing a petrochemical project, which would have included an ethane cracker, in West Virginia. And the company is seeking to sell the land that would have housed the cracker. The project, announced in 2013, had been on Braskem's back burner for several years.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,724,670 tonnes in the first ten months of 2019, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market in January-October 2019 totalled 1,066,520 tonnes, up by 7% year on year. Supply of block copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymer) and homopolymer of propylene (homopolymer PP) increased, demand for statistical copolymers (PP random copolymer) decreased.
Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Petrobras is an integrated energy firm. Petrobras' activities include exploration, exploitation and production of oil from reservoir wells, shale and other rocks as well as refining, processing, trade and transport of oil and oil products, natural gas and other fluid hydrocarbons, in addition to other energy-related activities.
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