Ipiranga Refinery to Restart Standby Fluid Catalytic Cracker

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)-- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) recently announced that it has delayed the restart of the fluid catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) at its Ipiranga refinery in Rio Grande do Sul from April 11, 2008, to April 19, 2008. The refinery's 3,170-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) FCCU has been on standby since October 2007 because of high crude and gasoline prices in Brazil, as the rise in the price of crude has not been reflecting in gasoline prices. The unit also experienced an explosion in November 2007. For details, view related December 11, 2007, article - Brazilian Refinery Maintenance Shutdowns Rescheduled Because of November Explosion.

Petrobras, Ultra Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:UPL) (Houston, Texas) and Braskem S.A. (Camacari, Brazil), which own the refinery together, had decided to bring the unit online for one month to determine whether it has the capability to process heavy crude.

The Ipiranga refinery has the capability of processing light, heavy and mixed crude. From 1999 to 2002, the plant processed Argentinean Hidra and Medanito crude; however, during the last few years, the refinery has been processing Brazilian Espirito Santo and Iguaba crude. As of today, the refinery is processing light and condensed oil (Merluza condensed) from Brazil.

On January 7, 2008, the refinery underwent a planned maintenance shutdown in its 3,800 BBL/d Crude U-100 and the 12,500 BBL/d Crude U-200. The next planned maintenance shutdown in these units is scheduled for the first quarter of 2010.

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