Petrobras to Postpone Commercial Production of H-Bio

31 August 2007

Folha de S. Paulo. Petrobras is postponing the commercial production of its renewable diesel fuel based on the hydrogenation of vegetable oil and mineral oil—H-Bio (earlier post)—due to high soy prices.

Petrobras originally intended to develop H-Bio production in two refineries (Gabriel Passos - Regap, in Minas Gerais, and Repar, in Paraná) during 2007-2008, with the structure extended to the remaining refineries where process deployment is viable during 2009-2011. Petrobras planned to use 10% soy oil in the first two refineries.

However, soy prices in São Paulo have climbed to BRL 35.50 (US$18) per 60 kg bag from BRL 25.50 (US$13) a year ago—an increase of 39%.

Petrobras is maintaining its production target of 425 million liters of H-Bio in 2008, and 1.6 billion liters in 2012.