Acelen, controlled by the Mubadala fund, bought the Mataripe refinery in Bahia from Petrobras; now the company wants to build a plant to produce green diesel and sustainable aviation kerosene
RIO – Two years after signing the purchase of Petrobrasfrom the Mataripe Refineryin Bahia, the to acceleratechecked by Mubadalathe sovereign wealth fund United Arab Emiratessigned a memorandum of understanding with the government of Bahia for the construction of a diesel green (HVO) e kerosene sustainable aviation (SAF). The investment will be R$12 billion over the next ten years, the company informed. The forecast to disburse between 50% and 60% of the total in the first four years.
The expectation is to produce 1 billion liters per year, which will reduce CO2 emissions by up to 80% by replacing fuel fossil. The new plant will use the infrastructures of the Mataripe Refinery, such as water, energy, steam and the Terminal Madre de Deus (Temadre), acquired together with the unit. A sustainable hydrogen generation unit for fuel hydrotreatment will be built. The forecast is to start work as early as January 2024.
The memorandum with the government of Bahia was signed on Saturday 15th Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates. Returning from an official visit to China, the President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva landed in Abu Dhabi, also this morning of Saturday 15, for a meeting with the president of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyanat the Presidential Palace. Lula returns to Brazil on Sunday the 16th.
The document signed with the government of Bahia provides for the creation of working groups on innovation, science, technology and logistics, to evaluate, among other things, the measures necessary to improve the access routes to the refinery.
Initially, the production of 20,000 barrels per day of green diesel fuel (HVO, o Hydrotreated vegetable oil) and sustainable aviation kerosene (SAF, o Sustainable aviation fuels) will consist of soy or from corn. Mataripe has the capacity to refine 300,000 barrels of Petrolium per day, or 14% of national fuel consumption.
Based on the memorandum signed with the government of Bahia, studies will be carried out to develop the use of macaubawhich will be Acelen’s small-scale raw material in 2029 or 2030, and which will reach full production by 2035, informed the Stadium/Broadcast the Vice President of Institutional Relations, Communication and ESG, Marcello Liraand the Vice President of New Business, Marcelo Cordaro.
Impact
The second phase of the project involves the planting of macaúba in an area of 200,000 hectares, favoring degraded land, the equivalent of 280,000 football pitches. Large-scale and family plantations will be used, expected to generate around 90,000 jobs and an economic impact of R$85 billion over the next 10 years. “I usually say this business is ESG (stands for environmental, social and governance) in the mood,” Lyra said of the socio-environmental impact the new plant will have on the region.
According to Cordaro, in the first phase of the project, the idea is to export the entire production. The first shipments should take place in the first quarter of 2026. The reference markets are the WE, Canada and some countries of Europe.
The first phase is aimed only at the international market because Brazil does not yet have regulations for the use of green diesel. The executive explains that the green or renewable diesel that will be produced by Acelen replaces 100% fossil diesel, meaning it can be used with the same engines used with normal diesel, without any alteration, residue or damage.
“When Brazil adjusts the regulatory environment, we start targeting the local market,” Cordaro said.
Research
In the second phase, the advantage of the macaúba as a raw material, according to the executive, is that the native plant generates much more energy per hectare per year than soy or similar products. To get there, between R$ 2 billion and R$ 2.5 billion will be invested in research from the seed to the refining of the macaúba.
“The macaúba is a native tree to be domesticated, and we will work on the domestication of the macaúba, from genetic domination to the productivity of cultivation and extraction, generating all the products that macaúba oil can generate: oil, fiber and protein” , informed.
Agreements are being concluded with agronomic institutes, such as the Federal University of Viçosa (UFV), in Minas Gerais, known for its genetic studies on the macaúba; the Campinas Agronomic Institute; Embrapa; and the Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture, at the University of São Paulo (USP); among others.
“We are also closing with international institutions interested in this development here, and who are part of global agronomic alliances,” Cordaro said.
With the project’s completion, Acelen plans to become one of the world’s leaders in the production of biofuels from high-energy agricultural crops, from seeding to renewable fuel production, Lyra said.
“We are keeping our promise to be a relevant player in the energy transition. We are talking about BRL 12 billion. The fact of bringing an agent (Mubadala) on the refining market with this investment capacity has allowed that, one year after the purchase of the refinery), we are already working on and announcing an investment of more than 1.8 billion dollars (since the acquisition) in renewable fuel,” he stressed.
Acelen has invested 500 million reais in 2022 to modernize the plant acquired from Petrobras and will repeat the same outlay this year. According to Lyra, the same will be done in 2024 and 2025. “The fossil fuel plant will continue to be modernized,” he said.
private refineries
The announcement of the billion-dollar investment comes at a time of uncertainty over the private stake in Brazil’s fuel refining sector. in governments Michael Temer (MDB) and Jair Bolsonaro (PL), Petrobras has focused on oil and gas production, primarily in pre-salt fields. With the return of the PT to the federal government, sales of plants that were already close to the end of the negotiations could also be completed, but the expectation is that the Petrobras refining park sale strategy will be shelved.
The shift is consistent with the expectation of a change in the state company’s pricing policy. The participation of private companies in the refining sector requires Petrobras to apply market prices, in line with those practiced internationally. This is because private refineries buy oil at international prices. Acelen tends to charge higher prices than Petrobras.
Source: Terra
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