Petrobras Refinery Shuts Down for Maintenance Work

CORDOBA, ARGENTINA--August 6, 2008--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--On August 4, Petrobras' (NYSE:PBR) Repar refinery (Araucaria, Parana, Brazil) began a full plant turnaround that includes all of the refinery's units. These units will be shut down for 35 days for maintenance work and equipment modernization. The atmospheric distillation unit is the only unit that will not shut down completely; it will remain processing approximately 90,000 barrels per day, half of its normal capacity. These maintenance shutdowns are being performed to comply with the pressure vessels and boilers security regulations of the NR-13 Regulation, which demands equipment maintenance within a period of 30 to 72 months.