20-08-08 Petrobras plans to invest $ 31 bn in its two new refineries in northern Brazil, executives said, adding that the facilities would produce export-quality premium fuel.
The most advanced of the projects is the refinery in Ceara state, the company's director of downstream operations, Paulo Roberto Costa, said. The Ceara refinery will process 300,000 bpd of crude, producing high-value derivatives, such as diesel and gasoline, for foreign markets.

"The project will be built in the area of the Port of Pecem. Investments are expected to be in the order of $ 11.1 bn, 90,000 jobs (direct and indirect) will be created, and there will be an increase in tax collection and income generation effect during project deployment," Petrobras said.
The refinery's output is expected to be 150,000 bpd in 2012, with another 150,000 bpd added in 2016, Costa said in Fortaleza, the capital of Ceara.

"The last refinery we inaugurated has been in operation for 28 years. Analyzing our perspectives (not including the pre-salt), we will have to process 3.5 mm barrels, and our current capacity is for 1.9 mm. That is why we need to boost our capacity by building five new refineries," Costa said.
Petrobras said Ceara was chosen as the location for the refinery because the state had the "appropriate infrastructure," especially in the port of Pecem, located in S8o Goncalo de Amarante.

In late 2007, Petrobras announced that it had found what could be the world's largest oil field, called Tupi, in the Santos basin, but the reserves are under the pre-salt layer, which is found below the sea bottom and contains a gel-like deposit of salt that could be up to 2 km (1.24 miles) deep. Reaching petroleum in such fields requires drilling down to the ocean floor and then through the salt layer, making such projects expensive and technologically challenging.
Tupi could contain between 5 bn and 8 bn barrels of crude oil, or enough to increase Brazil's current total proven petroleum reserves by up to 50 %.

Petrobras and Ceara government representatives plan to sign a protocol of understanding in the presence of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Lula is also scheduled to inaugurate Brazil's first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, which will help diversify the country's supply mix. Brazil currently gets more than 50 % of its gas from Bolivia. The president will also inaugurate the Quixada biodiesel plant in Ceara.
"The plant will work with several types of oleaginous seeds, such as sunflower seed, castor seed, and soybeans," Petrobras said.

Petrobras produces nearly 1.8 mm bpd of oil, and its proven reserves, which total about 14 bn barrels of crude, have been growing every year. In May, Petrobras said it found a "new oil accumulation" in ultra-deep waters in the Santos basin, where the Brazilian oil giant announced it discovered large potential reserves last year.
Petrobras, an integrated energy company and the global leader in deepwater oil exploration and production, operates in 27 countries in the Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe. Shares of Petrobras, Brazil's largest corporation, trade on the Sao Paulo, New York, Madrid and Buenos Aires stock exchanges, but the Brazilian government retains control through a golden share.