Petrobras Refinery in Brazil Experiences Unplanned Maintenance Shutdown

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)-- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR), Brazil's state-owned oil company, had an unplanned shutdown at its 307,000-barrel-per-day RLAM refinery (Bahia State), the company's second-largest refinery. RLAM is one of three Petrobras refineries that process lubricants.

On February 25, 2008, the RLAM refinery had an unplanned shutdown in the residue fluid catalytic cracking unit (RFCCU) U-39. Plant personnel had to clean a turbine at the unit's compressor that was reducing the performance of the gas compressor and blow equipment. The unit's start-up took place on the same day. The unit has a nominal processing capacity of 63,000 barrels per day; however, it has been processing 37,738 barrels per day.

Plant personnel are running tests on the LPG and gasoline produced in this unit to determine whether it is possible to process at nominal capacity. The unplanned maintenance shutdown was performed to have the facility ready to carry out the planned maintenance shutdown in FCCU 6 that had been scheduled to take place on February 25, 2008. A planned maintenance shutdown of the RFCCU will take place in the fourth quarter of 2009. The RFCCU began operation in 2001, and it is Petrobras' second-largest catalytic unit and the third largest in the world.

View Plant Profile - 1035175

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is a marketing information service specializing in industrial process and energy related industries with products and services ranging from industry news, forecasting, plant and project databases, as well as multimedia advertising campaign assistance.