20/11/2009 at 00:00:00 - Updated on 19/11/2009 at 23:38:41

Petrobras will produce biodiesel in Marialva - BRAZIL

Helio Miguel
Daniel Caron
Miguel Rossetto, Petrobras.

Aiming at an increase in demand for biodiesel, due to, among other factors, the increased percentage of regular diesel product, which comes into force. 1 January 2010, Petrobras Biofuels and BSBios Brazilian company announced yesterday in Curitiba, a partnership for fuel production in Parana.

With an investment of $ 100 million, the venture will be Marialva, Northern State and has the capacity to produce 120 cubic meters of biodiesel, moving R $ 300 million annually in the region.

Part of the facilities of the plant already existed, and were bought by BSBios during the reorganization of Agrenco, in the first half.

The novelty was the partnership with Petrobras Biofuels, considered strategic for both companies. The forecast of the partners is that production at the plant start until late March next year, so they can participate as the next auction to purchase the product, promoted by the National Petroleum Agency (ANP).

The president of Petrobras Biofuels, Miguel Rossetto, the participation of the plant state consolidates its presence in the south of the country today, the company has three plants, two in the Northeast (Ceará and Bahia) and one in Northern Ontario .

"Paraná is the third market consumer of diesel in the country and has exceptional conditions for the production of raw materials," he said. As president of BSBios, Erasmus Battistella, the plant Marialva should bring self-sufficiency in the state biodiesel, which is now importing the product.

He pointed out that this is the first association between Petrobras and companies in the industry, and predicted that, when operational, the plant could double the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the city of about 30 thousand inhabitants, which is approximately £ 300 million.

According to the secretary of the Agriculture, Valter Bianchini, with the mandatory addition of 5% biodiesel to diesel and no more than 4%, as now, the Parana, which consumes nearly 4 billion gallons of fuel, will require about 200 million liters of biodiesel per year.

Bianchini said that the plant Marialva will also benefit family farmers, as the partner to receive tax benefits contained in federal law, must buy at least 30% of the raw material of small farmers.

According to him, despite the main raw material used to produce biodiesel is soy, the plant has the capacity to work with several other alternatives.