Petrobras will resume construction at Tres Lagoas Fertilizer Plant by September
Petrobras, the state-owned 'oil' company in Brazil, plans to restart construction of a fertilizer plant in Mato Grosso do Sul by September. This is part of an effort to reduce 'the country's dependency on imports', said William 'Franca on Thursday.
The construction of Tres Lagoas' UFN-III Fertilizer Plant, which is expected to cost $1 billion, has been put on hold since 2015.
Franca, Petrobras director of industrial process and products, said that the company plans to start operations in 2029.
The nitrogen fertilizer plant will be able to produce 3,600 tons of urea per day and 2,200 tons of ammonia per day.
Tres Lagoas is a strategic location due to its proximity to major agribusiness consumers such as the states Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul. This resumption of production is part a larger?Petrobras plan to reduce Brazil's dependency on imported fertilizers. The company has also reactivated nitrogen fertilizer units located in Parana and Bahia.
This plant could reduce urea imports to 12%. Franca stated that if the other plants were combined, this reduction could reach 35 percent.
After the U.S. and Iran interim agreement to end their 'war,' pressure will likely decrease on Petrobras refining operations. These have been running at high levels in order to minimize fuel imports.
Franca stated that the refineries are currently operating at 101% capacity and will remain there until June. Petrobras increased its processing during World War II to reduce the need for imported fuel.
Franca, without giving details, said that under a'more stable scenario', the company plans to resume scheduled maintenance shutdowns which had been delayed.
It's impossible to maintain a constant %100. He said that we postponed some shutdowns due to the war. "But, we will also carry out planned outages in 2027 because of regulatory requirements," he added. Reporting by Rodrigo Viga Gaier, Writing by Fernando Cardoso, Editing by Mark Porter and Rod Nickel
(source: Reuters)
