en.Wedoany.com Reported - Magda Chambriard, President of Petrobras, said on the 7th that the company will expand its refining capacity regardless of whether it buys back the Refinaria de Mataripe. The refinery, formerly the RLAM refinery within the Petrobras system, now belongs to Acelen, controlled by Abu Dhabi's Mubadala fund.
At a press conference on the state-owned company's second-quarter financial results, Chambriard said the company hopes to move forward with expansion together with Mataripe, provided the price aligns with the asset's market value. Petrobras and Mubadala had initiated negotiations and due diligence during the previous management (under Jean Paul Prates), but talks made no progress under Chambriard's tenure. This is not the first time she has hinted at a possible buyback of the refinery, but the offer has been lower than the asking price from the Emirati side.
On diesel self-sufficiency, Chambriard reiterated that the original target of meeting 85% of domestic diesel demand by 2030 will be revised to 100% self-sufficiency in the five-year strategic plan through 2031. The plan is set to be announced in November this year.
Achieving this goal will rely on the expansion and modernization (revamps, maintenance, and capacity expansion) of existing refineries, as well as output from new dedicated biorefineries or biorefineries within fossil-based industrial parks.
William França, Director of Industrial Processes and Products, noted that Petrobras' refining complex currently produces 700,000 barrels of diesel per day, expected to expand to 970,000 barrels per day by 2030, with the company aiming to accelerate and reach 1.25 million barrels per day by 2031. França stated this would hit the "magic number" needed for self-sufficiency.
França also revealed that, in addition to ongoing small-scale expansions and two new biorefinery projects, the company has begun studying a new round of interventions at the Rnest refinery. Located in Pernambuco state, Rnest has been the biggest driver of Petrobras' diesel output growth. He said that by removing bottlenecks at the top of the distillation tower, processing capacity could be increased under the same hardware conditions. The expansion also includes modernizing Unit 1 and building Unit 2, with the goal of doubling the plant's capacity to 260,000 barrels per day by 2029, with an investment of R$12 billion.
