LATIN-AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL BRIEFS

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)

Alternative Fuels

Brazil’s Ecodiesel Targets European Union Biodiesel Market

Brazil's main supplier of biodiesel, Brasil Ecodiesel Industria e Comercio de Biocombustiveis e Oleos Vegetais SA (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), aims to send overseas between 30 million and 50 million liters of biodiesel to the European Union during 2007. However, the company’s main concern is to supply the domestic market. Currently, Brasil Ecodiesel has three operational biodiesel plants in the states of Piaui, Bahia and Ceara with a capacity of almost 280 million liters. By the end of this year, the company plans to launch three more plants to reach a total production capacity of 800 million liters.

Power

China May Use Coal to Replace Orimulsion after Venezuela Cuts the Supply

PetroChina (Hong Kong, China) is considering switching to coal at its south China power plant, as Venezuela ended the supply of orimulsion fuel. The mentioned facility was expressly designed for orimulsion, after a 33-year supply contract signed between the Chinese state owned company and PDVSA (Caracas, Venezuela). Last year, Petrochina completed two 600 MW generators in the southern city of Zhanjiang in order to burn 2.5 million tons of orimulsion a year, but is now operating only one due to the lack of oil supply.

Spain’s Acciona Energia to Build a Wind Power Plant in Mexico

Acciona Energia (Navarra, Spain) will invest $400 million in an electric generation wind power plant in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. The 250 MW plant will supply Cemex (Monterrey, Mexico) with electricity, according to Lorenzo Zambrano, President of Cemex. Acciona Energia is a world leader in the renewables sector. It focuses on wind power, in which it is one of the largest developers and constructors of windparks in the world.

Petroleum Refining

Venezuela to Build a 35,000 B/D Refinery in Paraguay

During the first South American Energetic Summit, which took place last week, Paraguay’s President, Nicanor Duarte, stated that Venezuela’s state owned oil company, PDVSA, and Paraguay’s Petropar signed an agreement to install a 35,000 b/d high-tech fuel oil refinery. The $600 million investment will be carried out in Petropar’s Villa Elisa Refinery, located in Asuncion, Paraguay. This plant has only one 7, 500 b/d primary distillation unit, which has not been working since September 2005 due to oil supply problems. For details, view April 27, 2007 article - Venezuela to Invest $600 Million in Paraguay’s Villa Elisa Refinery.

Cuba’s Cienfuegos Refinery to Resume its Operations in December

The Cienfuegos refinery located in the Cuban province of Cienfuegos, will be reactivated in December 2007. The rehabilitation of the Cienfuegos refinery is part of Venezuela’s Plan Siembra Petrolera implemented by President Hugo Chavez in 2005 in order to gain new markets around the world and benefit the country by the year 2030. In April 2006, Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA and Cuba’s CUPET formed a joint venture called PDV-CUPET SA so as to reactivate the Cienfuegos refinery which will have a processing capacity of 65,000 barrels per day with a total investment of $83 million. This refinery aims to produce 15,000 b/d of gasoline; 14,000 b/d of diesel fuel; 7,000 b/d of jet fuel; and 1,000 b/d of liquid petroleum gas. For details, view April 26, 2007 article - Cuba’s Cienfuegos Refinery to be Reactivated in December 2007.

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