Petrobras signs $ 1.28 bn of refinery contracts

Petroleo Brasileiro, Brazil's state-controlled oil company, said it signed reais 2.89 bn ($ 1.28 bn) of contracts for an oil refinery in Brazil, moving ahead without partner Petroleos de Venezuela.
Usinas Siderurgias de Minas Gerais, MRV Engenharia e Participacoes, Veolia Enironnment, the Techint Group and Confab Industrial are among the companies that won the contracts for construction, electrical work, water treatment and pipes, Rio de Janeiro-based Petrobras said. The $ 4 bn Abreu e Lima refinery near Recife is designed to process 200,000 barrels of heavy crude oil a day.

Petrobras plans to build at least five refineries in Brazil in the next decade, increasing refining capacity 69 % to 3.01 mm barrels of crude oil a day in 2020, an increase that could make the company one of the world's three largest refiners. Petrobras plans to spend $ 47.8 bn through the end of 2013 on its refining, maritime transport and petrochemical operations.
Petrobras and PdVSA, Venezuela's state oil company,agreed to build the refinery together in 2005 though have been unable to reach a final agreement on how to run the refinery, supply it with crude oil or distribute its products. The facility was to start operations in 2011, but the longest contracts signed are scheduled for completion by mid-2012.

PdVSA
On Feb. 12, Petrobras's refining chief said negotiations with PdVSA had reached "an impasse." On March 12, Brazil and Venezuela, whose Presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Hugo Chavez have inaugurated work on the refinery three times, pushed Petrobras and PdVSA to complete their agreement.
The contracts include a real 591 mm accord with Brazilian construction companies Empresia Industrial Tecnica and Engevix Engenharia for the refinery's main buildings and a real 528 mm accord with the Italian-Argentine steelmaking group Techint, and Brazilian steelmakers Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais and Confab Industrial for 11 storage tanks.

Brazilian contractors Cia. Technica de Engenharia Eletrica and the Galvao e Tome unit of MRV Engenharia e Participacoes signed a real 731 mm agreement to build 63 other tanks. The real 270 mm contract to build electrical substations and other electrical equipment and services was awarded to Orteng Equipamentos e Sistemas.
Brazil's Enfil and France's Veolia won the real 774 mm contract to build the refinery's industrial and wastewater treatment facilities.