Brazil: Comperj Petrochemical Complex in Hands of Petrobras, Brakem

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Cordoba, Argentina)--The construction of a petrochemical complex that is part of Comperj, the new industrial complex located in Itaborai, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, continues on despite a few delays that were mainly due to financial problems. These economic problems influenced Braskem's (NYSE:BAK) (Sao Paulo, Brazil) participation in the undertaking. The complex is an initiative of the Brazilian petroleum company Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil).

Comperj is a major industrial complex that will consist of two refineries; a petrochemical plant with two different production areas; a basic petrochemicals area, which will have a 2.8 billion-pound-per-year (Lbs/yr) ethylene unit; polyethylene and polypropylene units, with 960,000-metric-ton-per-year (MT/yr) and 900,000-MT/yr capacities, respectively. The second section, the aromatics area, will have a 154,000-MT/yr butadiene unit; a 400,000-MT/yr styrene unit; a 355,000-MT/yr benzene unit; a 480,000-MT/yr paraxylene unit; a 500,000-MT/yr terephthalic acid unit; and a polyethylene terephthalic (PET) unit with a 600,000-MT/yr capacity.

Originally, the petrochemical undertaking was entirely in the hands of Petrobras, but in order to be able to finance the project, Brazil's state-owned company had to look for investment partners. Braskem signed an agreement to participate in the execution of the projects for the basic petrochemicals area, mainly due to the fact that these processes are already part of the Braskem's product portfolio. Petrobras continues to lead the implementation of the remaining units and is still looking for partners to collaborate in those projects.

Petrobras experienced problems with some environmental permits, which threatened to delay the execution of the project, and Braskem is still evaluating its participation in Comperj, as well as looking for fiscal incentives. But both companies expect to complete the front-end engineering design (FEED) through the last quarter of 2013. Braskem expects to be able to announce the continuation of the project when the FEED is complete and an investment value of $5 billion is awarded by the Brazilian Development (BNDES) (Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social) (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil).

Construction of the petrochemical complex is expected to be completed toward the end of 2019.

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